KURT and Me
by BigDestiny
Summary: Blaine Anderson has met the man of his dreams, but there's a sizeable problem. Kurt Hummel is dead, and what Blaine has fallen for is a memory in the machine. Is there any hope for them? AU after Duets, in that Blaine didn't meet Kurt in high school.
1. Chapter 1

Well, I've gotten a lot of requests for this story, so I thought I'd best get it underway. As before, I don't own the old TV show Knight Rider nor the newer but still defunct show Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (again, it doesn't feature in the story itself, but if you watched Andromeda you'll be the first to figure out what it is that Artie is doing up in his little lab).

A little time frame explanation: everything that happened in canon up to about Duets still happened in this reality. Most everything that happened at McKinley and at Dalton the rest of season two and three happened as well (for example, the tie at Sectionals and the New Directions win at Regionals). But for the obvious reasons explained here, Kurt never went to Dalton Academy.

A warning for those of you just joining us: this is a little weird, but as always I try to make things as believable as possible. Honestly, I think this is the most touching of the 'Pilot Season' fics that I've been working on. For those of you who've already read this, please re-read. I've been editing and adding to this chapter, and it's a little fuller than it used to be.

K.U.R.T. and Me by BigDestiny

Chapter One

Blaine walked through the front doors of the impressive Knight Tower, realizing with a little surprise that it was the first time he'd been here since Knight Industries had hired him over two years ago. Normally, he came through the garage entrance, but Artie Abrams, the head of technical development at K.I. had told Blaine to get his butt down there and NOT to bring his car.

Blaine Anderson had been hired as an 'investigator', which was not so much a lie as an umbrella description of what he actually did. Much of his job was here, working to keep the computer systems protected from hackers and the competitors that hired them. It was when he stepped outside his office that things got more interesting. From making sure the company's insurance plan wasn't being bilked, to the occasional 'counter-espionage' against K.I.'s rivals, Blaine was their go-to guy when the company needed information.

It had surprised his friends at Dalton when he'd applied for the job. Yes, they all knew that Blaine had, at his father's insistence, studied for what Mr. Anderson had termed 'stable employment'. But they'd all assumed that it was just a fallback to what he'd really wanted to do, which was to sing. But as he neared the end of his university education, he found that he really wasn't feeling the need for the stage anymore.

...of course, if he'd had someone to share that stage, things might have been different...

He honestly loved his job. It was fun, and he loved the people he worked with. And he could sing at the local coffee house on the handful of nights he had free. What could be a better compromise than that?

Blaine decided to take the stairs, since technical development was only on the second floor. Artie needed his own entrance into the building, not because of his wheelchair but because of all the interesting deliveries he got meant it was either the second floor or bury technical development in the sub-sub-basement under several stories of garage. Blaine felt Artie had been correct in going with the non-claustrophobic alternative.

Blaine arrived at the desk in front of the door going into the labs. It seemed peculiar to have a separate reception for what was only a single department, but Blaine knew that the goings-on behind those doors were top secret. Santana Lopez, who manned that desk, was there to make sure no one wandered in off the elevator (or the stairs for that matter), and she was damned good at her job. An old friend of Artie's, she'd gladly come aboard when he'd offered and her loyalty was guaranteed. "Morning, short round. What are you doing here?"

"Artie asked me here," Blaine replied politely. Because there was seriously no point in getting into a pissing contest with Santana, because she'd win. Especially since she didn't play fair. "Which I've no doubt he's already told you about. Can I go in, now?"

"In a minute." Santana filed her nails to frightening sharp points while Blaine cooled his heels. At times, this was to make sure whoever had come didn't interrupt Artie at a dangerous junction. But when Santana chirped, "You can go in now," without even looking up Blaine knew she was just delaying him because she could.

Santana's actions only made Blaine more curious. It meant that Artie must have been waiting for him (as Santana hadn't waited for a phone call to let Blaine go in). But at the same time, it couldn't have been an emergency either, or Santana wouldn't have wasted any time getting Blaine into the lab. He practically sprinted to the doors, ignoring Santana's snarky chuckle of "Boys."

Artie Abrams - like Santana, and Blaine himself – seemed like a surprising addition to Knight Industries from the outside. All were ridiculously young. All were unintellectual in school, though hardly unintelligent. And all three had not only focused on show choir, but probably had the legs to go further in the business if they had chosen.

Except Artie didn't have legs, at least not ones that worked. He'd gotten distracted in college by cybernetic sciences and hadn't looked back. He was dedicated to it, or obsessed as Santana was fond of complaining, and it showed. Artie was, for lack of a better term, brilliant. Even if he HAD needed to trade on some connections Blaine had never quite heard about in order to get his job.

When Blaine walked through the doors, Artie was sitting in front of the one thing Blaine had been hoping for the moment Artie said to leave his car at home: a sportscar. Like nothing Blaine had ever seen, it had to have been something Artie had come up with himself. It was just gorgeous, and Blaine knew enough about cars to know that those lines were the markings of a top speed automobile comparable to the SSC Ultimate Aeroor Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. "Oh my god, Artie. What IS this?"

Artie looked up at him and smiled. "It's your new car."

"I was hoping you were going to say that."

"Well then get over here and say hello to the Knight Ultimate Robotic Transport," Artie told him. "K.U.R.T. for short."

Blaine moved closer so that he could get a good look at what was apparently going to be his new company vehicle. "Hello, Kurt!" he quipped joyfully.

It was meant to be a playful joke, a way to express his excitement at the situation. He didn't expect a high, though definitively male voice come from inside the car replying, "It's nice to meet you, Blaine."

Blaine jumped, and his jaw dropped. "Okay, what was that?"

"As much fun as building this was," Artie stated, "I didn't spend three million dollars just making you a sportscar. This is a mobile command post for you, and that was the on-board computer."

"Of course," Blaine responded, though he was still shocked. Not so much by the cost (although there were times he just wasn't able to be blase about how much money the company had to throw around), but because Blaine knew more about what Artie did up here than most did. And as brilliant as Artie was, this was clearly a big breakthrough for him. "It sounds so real."

"Thank you," Artie answered smugly.

Kurt, on the other hand, seemed offended. "I am not an 'it'. I am sophisticated, intelligent, and every bit as 'real' as you are."

Blaine jumped again, this time his skin burning a little with unexpected shame. Wow. Artie had made human like simulations before, but they'd never given him quite the sense of embarrasment that Kurt was currently giving him. "My mistake," he replied, with his best country manners. "No 'it'. Is it all right if I call you Kurt?"

"That. I'd also accept 'sir'," Kurt drawled, with a superiority that Blaine actually found kind of awesome.

"I'll keep that in mind," Blaine grinned. "Is there anything else you want to go over, or can I take a turn behind the wheel?"

Artie offered Blaine what looked like a watch, which was a little odd given that although Blaine loved timepieces he rarely ever used one other than the one on his iphone. But then Artie explained, "This is your comm link with K.U.R.T. There are a couple of features that you need to go over, but K.U.R.T. can explain all that."

"Well then, Kurt. Let's get going," Blaine announced. The door popped open at his words, and Blaine slid inside. Oddly enough, Kurt chuckled at that. Blaine was again surprised, as this was the first time Artie had ever cared to provide his creation with a sense of humor. "What is it?"

"It's your jacket," Kurt noted. "It's leather."

"Yeah?" Blaine said, not getting the joke. "It's the in thing this season."

"Good to know," Kurt replied. Oddly enough, he sounded legitimately interested in that. "But that's not why I was laughing. Rubbing across my leather seats just tickles a little bit."

"Really?" Blaine was amazed. He knew Artie was a genius, but outfitting the inside of the car with a nervous system? That was just unbelievable. At least hopefully it was just the inside. If it was outside the car as well, he'd be too fearful of fender benders to take Kurt out onto the streets. Blaine wiggled around playfully on the seat. "Shouldn't have told me that."

Kurt gigled again, but then they both quieted when they heard Artie sigh heavily. "It's a computer, Blaine. Stop flirting with it."

Kurt sniffed indignantly at being called an 'it' again, and Blaine blushed.

* * *

><p>As soon as Blaine confirmed Kurt wouldn't be in agony if they were accidentally side-swiped, they were off on a test drive. Kurt handled like a dream, and Blaine couldn't help ask, "How fast can you go?"<p>

"Faster than I can show you on a public street," Kurt replied proudly. "That's not what's really impressive about me though."

"No, kidding. I've had more fun with you in the last five minutes than I've had on my last five dates." Blaine stopped cold at that. He HAD been having a good time. Amazingly good. Blaine just didn't know what it said about him that he had so much chemistry with a car.

Kurt seemed to recognize that they'd gone too far at that point, and politely ignored what Blaine had just admitted. "Lots of cars can go fast. But even at top speed, my braking time is half what other cars in my range can manage."

"Impressive. So you're top of the line, you've got this amazing 3-D navigational display," Blaine commented, running a hand across the dash which had an honest-to-god holographic map built into it. "And you're the most sophisticated AI I've ever heard of. You even sing – a countertenor no less. What can't you do?"

Kurt was quiet for a moment, which Blaine thought was a little strange. Finally, Kurt decided to reply. "I suppose I should be fair and admit that I'm not exactly an AI. As much as Artie wishes he could have built me, what he constructed was just the housing to properly store me."

"I don't understand."

"About five years ago, there was a boy named Kurt Hummel," Kurt replied. Despite the name, it sounded like this Kurt was speaking about someone else entirely. "He went to high school in Lima, Ohio."

"Really? I went to school in Westerville, not very far from Lima."

"Yes, I know," Kurt mused. Much as Blaine wanted it, Kurt didn't clarify if he meant he knew where Blaine went to school, or just where Westerville was in relation to Lima. "Kurt had big dreams. He was going to move to New York with his best friend Rachel and become a Broadway star."

"I take it he didn't?" Blaine wasn't sure anymore if he still wanted to hear this. Making a guess about how this was going to turn out, Blaine pulled off the road and parked the car.

"No." It was there that Kurt paused again, and if the car had been a person Blaine would have been compelled to throw his arms around Kurt. "Kurt's father did all of Mr. Knight's car work, and they were good friends. The three of them, Mr. Knight, Burt Hummel, and Kurt were on their way to see a show in New York when a semi plowed into them."

"Oh my god," Blaine breathed. He'd suspected that the boy Kurt was probably not getting out of this story alive, but that did nothing to lessen the shock. Or the subsequent ache in Blaine's chest.

"None of them were going to survive," Kurt said, his voice thick with emotions Blaine wasn't sure Kurt was able to express. "Mr. Knight lived long enough to watch my... Mr. Hummel die. He couldn't bear to watch Burt's son die too, so he ordered his company to do what they had to in order to keep Kurt alive."

"Did they?" Blaine asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Of course not. And this was before Artie joined technical development, so the best they could do was record every neuron of Kurt's head and dump it into a computer so they could look at it later." Silence. Blaine couldn't speak, and when Kurt finally did it was in a voice so sad that Blaine couldn't bear it. Finally dropping the fiction that this wasn't personal. "I lived in a box up until this morning. You have no idea what that feels like."

"I'm so sorry, Kurt." Blaine didn't know what to do, so he impulsively hugged the steering wheel.

They stayed like that for a while. Silent. Until Blaine could hear a weak chuckle coming from Kurt. "You do realize that doesn't feel like you're imagining it feels."

"It doesn't?" Blaine pulled back, embarrassed and wiping his eyes.

"It's a steering wheel. I can feel it, but it's not like having your arms around me." Kurt still sounded sad, but he sounded like he was pulling himself together, too. It seemed to Blaine like Kurt should just be able to will his circuits to stop being upset, and the fact that he couldn't made Blaine sad all over again.

"Yeah. It must be like someone wrapping their hands around my knuckle," Blaine noted, with some guilt that he couldn't do more. "Sorry." Again the thought came that he shouldn't be feeling like this, but already he was getting more acustomed to ignoring said rebuke.

"Don't be. I'm sure Artie would be irritated I even brought up my sad little story," Kurt mentioned with dry bemusement.

"Hey, if you're going to be my car, I think we owe it to each other to be friends." Blaine stopped short, unable to believe what he'd just said. "Never thought I'd hear THAT come out of my mouth."

Kurt laughed again, this time stronger and just a little content again. "I know what you mean. And I agree."

"So you don't have to worry about not always being some perfect artificial intelligence," Blaine stated. "Especially since you aren't anything of the kind."

"Thank you," Kurt replied.

Kurt's forgiveness made Blaine feel a lot better, which would have seemed crazy earlier and now seemed completely normal. There was just one other thing, though. "Uh, Kurt? You don't think... You don't have a picture of how you used to look, do you? I'm just curious."

Kurt sounded surprised. "Of course I do." Since they were still parked, Kurt didn't need to use either the viewscreen on the dash, or the watch. He just shut of the nav system and projected an image of himself when he'd been alive.

Blaine stopped breathing.

Kurt Hummel had been absolutely beautiful when he'd been alive. Willowy body. Strength implied if not outright stated. Thick, light brown hair that looked like it must have taken hours to style. Flawless porcelain skin, and eyes a startling shade of blue that Blaine had never seen before.

He was just perfect, and the knowledge that he was now dead broke Blaine's heart.

"I know I was nothing special," Kurt noted, sounding bemused but also a little confused. "But there's no need to weep over it."

Blaine realized with a start that tears were trickling down his face again and he wiped his face a second time. "Believe me, you were DEFINTELY something special. Anyone who didn't tell you that must have been blind."

Kurt seemed taken aback by Blaine's declaration. "Thank you," came out unexpectedly slow for something that was supposed to just be wires and plastic.

"I wish-" Blaine cut off what he was about to say. Kurt Hummel had been everything Blaine could have wished for, but admitting it to a computer modelled after Kurt would be, at best, depressing for both of them. At worst, it was downright delusional. "I know that it's probably a step down for you, but I'm glad you're here, now."

The hologram of Kurt shrugged before being replaced again with the nav display. "There was a step down. But then there was a step up, too. I'm glad I'm here, too. So why don't you take me out onto the highway and I'll show you what a K.U.R.T. can do."

* * *

><p>Now that K.U.R.T. was finished, Artie was free to pursue a project he was far more interested in.<p>

Actually, that wasn't quite just, he thought. Although it had been the company that had requested the project, Artie had been able to experiment a great deal in the design and those experiments were the reason why he was finally able to move forward on a long-held obsession. The AI he'd based on Kurt's personality might not have been entirely synthetic in origin, but it would have been useless without Artie's carefully thought out computer system allowing it a full range of operation. That system would prove invaluable, as would the tactile sensors he'd designed for the interior.

The inside of the car had full human sensitivity now, all that remained was to minimize the circuitry needed to control and process it. Wheeling over to the new simulacrum he was working on, he set to work on doing just that.

A few hours later, with lunch forgotten and long past, Santana entered the lab and strode over to Abrams. She looked over Artie's shoulder at the blank, featureless visage being worked on. "I had a dream once that started like this," she quipped.

"Not really interested in your sex dreams right now," Artie replied tiredly.

"Come on, now. We both know you're fully functional down there. Maybe if you used it once in a while, you wouldn't be spending 24/7 sitting up here and muttering like a mad scientist."

"This is my masterpiece," Artie informed her. "I may look like a mad scientist, but when I'm finished with this you'll see why I'm putting so much effort into it."

Santana shrugged. "Your loss. And not that I care if you eat or not, but if you don't this thing is going to turn into your unfinished symphony."

Artie turned to face her. She could be terrifying at times, but she was a good friend despite what she claimed. He didn't think their group of friends back in New Directions would have made it through what happened with Kurt without her. "I'm almost done. And thank you for your concern."

"Not concern," Santana insisted. "Just a comment."

* * *

><p>It was the little things that stuck with Blaine. And over the following weeks he steadfastly ignored how much that sounded like falling for someone.<p>

Blaine had to constantly have a hand on the gear stick when he was driving – always had- and it made Kurt chuckle. Not the way he had when Blaine made Kurt ticklish. Blaine's attachment to the oh-so-phallic piece of equipment was actually something Kurt found hilarious, especially since it was Kurt who was shifting the gears. "Maybe if I convince Artie to load it up with sensors, it will shame you into letting go of my poor abused gear stick," Kurt laughed.

"I don't see how my accidentally giving you a hand job every time we go up or down a hill is supposed to make ME embarrassed," Blaine retorted with a laugh of his own.

"Ah, so you're straight but not narrow, then," Kurt noted with amusement. "I did not know that."

Blaine started a little at that. Although they hadn't ever discussed Blaine's personal life (mostly because Blaine didn't have a personal life), he wasn't sure where Kurt had gotten 'straight' from. "I hate to break it to you, my oh-so-flawless computer friend, but I'm neither straight, nor narrow."

"Oh." Kurt sounded as embarrassed as Blaine had predicted. But he quickly buried that discomfort with more bravado. "Well, I may have been presumptuous about who you'd rather have in your empty bed, but my sensors are pretty good at scoping you out. And compared to the average American body weight you are QUITE narrow."

Kurt had apparently not gotten Blaine's innuendo. Blaine knew he should stop, but he couldn't help but reiterate, "Maybe you're just not looking far enough down."

Kurt's hologram snapped into place on the nav display. Normally it was tiny, but now he seemed human sized as he sat primly on the dash. Layers of clothing more armor than ever.

He looked almost real.

"Is it hot in here?" Kurt asked, looking legitimately flushed. "Perhaps I'd better open a window."

Blaine grabbed Kurt's wrist. He knew that he shouldn't be able to feel anything, but he wasn't focusing on that now. "Why don't you just take off that cardigan. I mean, it's just pixels, isn't it?"

As though word were action, Kurt's uppermost top disintegrated into a shower of sparks. Kurt smiled a naughty little smile, moving forward to straddle Blaine. "You are a very bad man," he purred as he brushed his lips against Blaine's.

][

Blaine woke up in his apartment, sweating and shaking. His sheets were sticky, and he quickly realized that for the first time in about a decade it was from a wet dream. A mortifying wet dream.

Blaine got out of bed and splashed water on his face. Hoping to clear the disturbing thoughts out, all it accomplished was to leave him wide awake to deal with how terribly inappropriate his fantasies had gotten. He couldn't even remember now what part of his dream had been imaginary, and how much of their flirting had actually happened. Definitely more than what should have been allowed.

Blaine sat on the edge of his bed, his head hanging loosely between his parted knees. It was official: he was in love with his car. He was also in love with a dead boy; he wasn't sure which was worse.

"God, what am I going to do?" he moaned.

(to be continued?)


	2. Chapter 2

K.U.R.T. and Me – chapter two

Artie was working on his newest project when Santana's voice came over the intercom. "Somebody here to see you, Artie."

Artie hit the emergency switch he'd installed on the main worktable after he'd started this new project. Security reasons, of course. In seconds, everything on the table had vanished into a vault he'd hidden between the lab floor and the ceiling in the building's entrance. Virtually impossible to access unless you happened to have a rocket launcher on you. "Who is it?"

"I'll give you a hint," Santana quipped. "'Get off my feet, you big clumsy ape!'"

"Finn! Bring him in!"

Despite the fact that Santana still pretended to despise Finn, they both came in with full smiles. And Santana didn't leave the second she'd escorted Finn inside. Finn hurried over to Artie and gave him a huge hug. "It's so great to see you, man."

"You too, Finn. So what've you been up to, dawg?" It had been ages since Artie had broken out his gangsta slang, and it felt a little unfamiliar on his tongue. For a moment, he regretted how busy he'd been and couldn't figure out how it could hurt to have a little more fun.

Then he noticed again just how far above him Finn was looming, and he remembered. Right.

Finn seemed a little unsettled by the question, for some reason. "Oh, everything's great. Got everything I could ever want."

Except that that was a lie, Artie could see it in Finn's eyes. And given the timing, Artie was pretty sure what it was that Finn wasn't saying. "You heard, didn't you?" Artie asked soberly.

Finn offered a little smile. "My mom did inherit all that stock from Mr. Knight. And a board seat. Is it-? Is Kurt really back?"

Artie shivered at the bald hope on Finn's face. He couldn't handle looking at it straight on, and wanted more than anything for it to go away. "Kurt's dead, Finn. You more than anybody should remember that."

* * *

><p>October 20, 2010<p>

Artie was just about to begin dinner with his family when his cell phone rang. His mother looked a little put out with him, but when he saw who it was he knew he had to take it. "It's Mr. Schuester, mom. I can't just not answer it."

"Oh," she exclaimed, her irritation banished. "Of course."

"Mr. Schue," he began, dispensing with his usual greeting as he knew full well 'who dis be'. "What can I do for you?"

Mr. Schue didn't answer at first, which seemed a little odd. Though not as odd as when he did speak, and was so quiet and withdrawn that he didn't sound like himself. "Artie, I'm sorry to have to call you. But you need to get down to Lima Memorial as soon as you can."

"The hospital?" Artie asked, confused. "Is Quinn pregnant again?"

"No, there-" Mr. Schue paused, choking back what Artie was almost convinced was a sob. "Kurt and his dad have been in an accident."

Artie almost dropped his phone in shock. "Oh my god, are they okay?"

"No. No, Finn told me Mr. Hummel died before they could get him to the hospital."

Artie bowed his head, unable to imagine what Kurt must have been going through. "Fuck."

"Artie..." his father warned, not knowing what was going on.

Artie glared at his father. He got that his dad didn't know; but now was really not the time. "Dad, one of my friends was in an accident. His dad's dead." His mom too. Fuck. That was a nightmare Artie didn't even want to think about. "Tell Kurt I'm on my way. I can't imagine how hard this must be on him, right after his dad's heart attack-"

"Artie!" Schue interrupted firmly, before Artie could hang up. "He doesn't know. Kurt's... Kurt's hurt really bad, Artie."

Artie's family had gone silent when he explained what had happened. The silence grew to intolerable levels as Artie felt his entire body going cold. Even the parts that shouldn't technically be feeling anything anymore. Mr Schue couldn't possibly be saying... "How- How bad?"

"Artie-" And this time Mr. Schue was sobbing. "Finn- The doctors don't think Kurt is going to make it."

"No. Oh my god, no." It was the first time Artie could remember crying since he found out he'd never walk again. This could NOT be happening. "I'll be right there. Do you need me to call anybody?"

"No, thank you," Mr. Schue told him, trying to get himself under control again. "I'm calling all the guys, and I've asked Ms. Pillsbury to call the girls. You just- You all need to hurry, okay? I'll see you there."

Artie set a new record for himself, getting underway to the hospital. But long before he got there, he found himself sitting in a line of cars that were being let through VERY slowly. Artie couldn't really shift in his seat, but it was evident that he was agitated about it. Artie's dad mused about asking the police what was going on, but when he reached the front of the line, Artie saw clearly WHY they had been delayed.

A car Artie immediately recognized as Kurt's was sitting mostly underneath the front of a semi. He remembered then, how Kurt was going with a friend of his dad's to the airport, and then to New York to have dinner and see a show. Kurt had been so excited.

Kurt's car was shattered, and there was glass and dark coloured stains spread all over the pavement. The passenger side crushed decisively, it was obvious just by looking that Mr. Hummel and Mr. Knight had had no chance of surviving. But the driver's side almost looked intact. Didn't that mean it was possible Kurt would be okay?

"Doctors always make things sound worst-case, don't they?" he asked, almost to himself.

His mom turned towards him. She was crying, but nodded encouragingly. "Sometimes." It was slim hope, but it was the only thing he had to hang on to right now.

Because of the traffic jam, Artie was the last member of New Directions to arrive. Despite the overwhelming scent of disinfectant, the air in the ER was with the smell of blood, and bitter odours he couldn't name. Artie wheeled over to Mr. Schue, who was sitting with Ms. Pillsbury and Quinn. "How's Kurt?" Artie asked anxiously. He couldn't be too late, could he?

"We don't know yet, Artie," Ms. Pillsbury told him softly. She didn't say anything else, but he saw the kind, pained look in her eyes. The look that said that this was actually happening, and he needed to prepare himself.

"We don't know anything," Quinn elaborated, anxious and angry. "No one has any time for us, and no one is willing to say anything. Someone needs to find Finn. I haven't seen him since Mercedes and I got here, and he's the only one who can let us in now."

"I'll do it. I'll find him," Artie volunteered immediately. Rachel seemed to be the most logical person to start with. He wheeled himself up to her and called out. "Rachel, have you seen Finn anywhere?"

Rachel didn't answer; didn't seem to hear him at all. Artie looked over in the direction she was looking and understood why.

Finn. Looking wrecked as he came out of a nearby room.

No. It couldn't be too late. Not when they all still had so much to say to Kurt.

Finn stumbled over to Rachel, like he didn't know how to do anything anymore. The look on his face, and the sound of his voice, would stick with Artie the rest of his life. "He's- He's gone, Rach," Finn told her, as quiet as though there wasn't any power left there anymore. "Kurt's gone."

Finn buckled in her arms, and didn't stop crying for a month. Neither did Artie. None of them did.

That was the day Kurt Hummel died. Nothing that Knight Industries, or later Artie, had done would ever take that back.

* * *

><p>Blaine tore down the street to the tune of Katy Perry's Last Friday Night. Oh, she'd had more hits since then (some far bigger), but Blaine was a far bigger fan of her earlier work and that was what he usually stuck with. At the moment though he wasn't listening to her work either, as Kurt had done something to the CD so that they could cut out the lyrics and sing it themselves if they so chose. Which they had.<p>

Blaine hadn't seen the inside of his office in about two weeks; the third time that had happened. While Blaine often had things take him away from the Knight Industries building before Kurt, since their happy partnership had started Blaine found he couldn't concentrate if he knew that Kurt was sitting bored in the parking garage. So since Blaine didn't actually need to be in his office now that he could access the KI system from Kurt's vehicle mode (as Blaine had decided to name it), he was finding he preferred to just park at some picturesque spot or another in the city whenever he needed to do computer work. No problem.

Except for Kurt playfully commenting that he never expected his life would consist of one make-out point after another.

Blaine was in love with Kurt, and he was getting to the point where he didn't even care anymore. At least not about anything besides the fact that they couldn't ever really be together. That way. Blaine told himself that he was being stupid, that sex was just a silly heterosexual trap to induce mating. And that what he and Kurt had was better than that. But Blaine couldn't help falling asleep every night wishing he could wrap his arms around Kurt.

Of course, Blaine didn't tell Kurt (or anyone else for that matter) that he thought of them as a couple. That was the surest way to end up in a mental hospital.

Blaine had wandered off in thought, something he never used to do but did frequently now that he wasn't really driving anymore. He wasn't brought out of his daze until he realized that Kurt was hitting the signal lights where Blaine didn't think it was necessary. "Where are we going?" Blaine asked.

"You were wanting to look in on the Columbus acquisition," Kurt prompted. "So I'm heading back to your office."

"Oh. I thought we could do that at the park," Blaine sighed.

"We could. But the reason you picked today was that you were waiting for all the data to come in. And I just checked your messages and found out the file is on your desk now."

"What would I do without you?"

"A lot of guess work, I'd suspect." Kurt paused for a moment, and when he proceeded he was unusually tentative. "There's a message from someone named Sebastian Smythe. Do you know who that is?"

Blaine looked up with surprise. "Yeah, he's an old friend from Dalton."

"He's dropping by," Kurt told him. "Sounds very excited. Ex-boyfriend?"

Blaine missed the note of Kurt's discomfort in his responding excitement that Sebastian was coming. "Definitely not," Blaine chuckled. "Just a friend. Sebastian doesn't do 'boyfriends', and I don't do random hook-ups." Not that Sebastian wouldn't have been quite happy to bed Blaine, but their friendship would probably have been over right afterwards and Blaine wasn't about to risk that.

And he certainly didn't want to risk upsetting Kurt by dwelling on it.

"His loss I suppose," Kurt muttered.

Now Blaine definitely heard the relief in Kurt's voice. "Are you jealous?"

Kurt's face appeared on the display screen they'd reserved for it. His normally pleasant face was frozen with disdain. "Please. Show me his zero to sixty, and then maybe I'll have something to be concerned about."

Blaine was about to pursue the issue further, but they were pulling into the parking garage. There was a man there about Blaine's age and he was blocking their entry. For a moment Blaine wondered if it was about one of their cases, but the man didn't seem all that aggressive. Blaine hit the brakes and put the vehicle unit into park.

"Oh dear," Kurt sighed.

"You know this guy?" Blaine asked.

"In another life he might have been my brother." Apparently, they were both getting visitors from the past today.

Blaine got out of the vehicle (he refused to think about it as getting out of Kurt, as it made him think about pulling out of Kurt and things went downhill really fast at that point), and approached the man. He had light hair, and was significantly taller than Blaine was. But Blaine had been a corporate face of Knight Industries for some time now and wasn't about to be cowed. He reached into his long held manners and extended a hand. "Blaine Anderson."

Kurt's mystery man nodded as he shook Blaine's hand. "Finn Hudson." Now that he was up close, Blaine could see that this Finn guy was incredibly nervous. Finn shot several glances at Kurt parked behind Blaine. "Artie told me a little about you. So if you're Blaine, does that mean that's..."

"Yeah." Blaine led the way over to Kurt. He belatedly realized that he was probably in the way. "Of course. You probably want to catch up."

Kurt didn't seem like he wanted to have this conversation though. "I don't really have a lot to talk about," he pointed out.

"Don't worry about it," Blaine insisted. "As you already pointed out, I've got to get that file out of my office. I'll just take my time."

* * *

><p>Kurt sighed as Blaine scurried away. It wasn't like he wasn't happy to see Finn. But he knew where this conversation was going, and he wasn't looking forward to having it.<p>

Before he could continue on with this line of thought, Finn sat down in the passenger seat of the vehicle unit. He looked nervous, but hopeful. "Kurt? Is that you?"

Kurt wasn't sure how to answer that question. Damn it, he didn't realize that he'd need to be answering philosophical questions with only seventeen years worth of experience. "The parts of me that weren't made in Detroit, yes."

Finn's eyes widened with amazement. "Oh my god, Kurt. I'm so glad to see you." And what was it with people hugging his steering wheel? "It's so good to see you!"

Finn couldn't really see Kurt, but Kurt decided not to pursue that for the time being. "You're looking well. How's Carole doing?"

"Great. Great." Finn's face fell a little bit. "I mean, she misses you and your dad every day. I've started hinting about her maybe dating someone- I hope that's all right."

"I don't mind, really." Not that it really made much of a difference. "Finn, I wouldn't be surprised if she's never ready again. She's lost two husbands under awful circumstances."

"I know," Finn sighed. "I just- Never mind." Finn's face lit up again, and Kurt sighed. Finn ignored it. "I can't wait to tell everyone you're back."

"Finn, look at me." Kurt turned his display screen off, and waited as Finn looked around the inside of the vehicle cab.

"Where am I supposed to look?" Finn finally asked.

"That's my point, Finn." He considered remaining invisible for the rest of this talk, but decided that the holographic display might get the point across even better. Finn jumped as the ghost-like image of Kurt appeared on the dash. "I'm not back. Not that I'm not grateful that I, at least, get this much of an afterlife. But I need you to not come around anymore. And not tell anyone else from McKinley that I'm here."

"Not even Rachel?" Finn asked. "Did you know that we got married?"

If Kurt could have cried at that point, he would have. "No. I didn't know that. Congratulations. But can you imagine what it'd be like to have Rachel here? That's just going to hurt her."

"No, she'll be fine," Finn insisted. "She doesn't care what you look like. I'm gonna call all the old New Directions. Mr and Mrs Schue, too- That's Ms Pillsbury, they got married our senior year-"

"That's very nice for them," Kurt replied bitingly. "But what exactly are you planning on doing when you call all these people? Have a tailgate party?"

"I... maybe...?" Finn clearly hadn't thought this through.

"Finn, you have to let this go," Kurt told him sadly. "I've got a whole new life now. And from the sounds of it, so do you. Don't waste it on ghosts."

Finn looked crushed; it was the first sign that Kurt might be getting through to him. "Are you sure? Isn't this... Isn't this kind of lonely?"

Kurt thought of Blaine, and how happy they were together. Then he thought about this Sebastian guy, and how he could probably give Blaine far more than Kurt ever could. "Maybe. And maybe in six months I'll be calling begging for you to get everyone together. But for now, just try to put it out of your mind. Please?"

Finn was quiet for a long time. Kurt refrained from making a joke about Finn thinking; it wouldn't help. Finally Finn looked at the holographic Kurt again, looking far older than Kurt remembered. "I won't keep this from Rachel. She's my wife, and I'm not going to lie to her."

Kurt nodded. He didn't like it, but he couldn't blame Finn for it. "I understand."

"I'll keep everyone out of your hair... or whatever, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I want Blaine's e-mail address," Finn told him. "And when I send you a message, I want you to reply."

"I-" Kurt was stunned, honestly. The last he remembered, he and Finn had kind of an awkward relationship. Maybe if Kurt had lived they could have been closer, but he wasn't anticipating this kind of insistence from Finn. Especially after all this time. "Okay. But I have one more condition, then."

"Yeah?" Finn was looking wary, and now that Kurt had gotten what he'd asked for, he grinned to make sure Finn knew Kurt was kidding around.

"I don't sleep, so I spend my nights on-line," Kurt explained. "So if you see some dancing kitty, or chain mail you feel the need to send me, don't. Trust me, I've already seen it."

Finn laughed. It was a good sound, and for the moment Kurt was glad that he'd agreed to keep in touch.

He wouldn't know the full extent of his good fortune until weeks later.

(to be continued)

So yes, Sebastian has a part to play in this story. But it's not what you think, there will be no Seblaine in this fic.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much to everyone that put this story on their story alerts and favourites. Not to mention the reviews I've gotten between here and the original posting in 'Pilot Season'. Thank you to Madame Ce'line, brezy bri, Marininha Potter, Sarahamanda, and lillybean for your kind words.

I've had a little problem with the plotting of this chapter, but I think I've got things under control again. It didn't help that I've been sick the last few weeks, thank you for your patience.

So we're getting into the Sebastian stuff in this chapter. I'm a little concerned by how obsessed I am with this character, and want to assure Grant Gustin and his fans that it's just the character I despise. I mean him no harm at all (in fact, if he wasn't straight and about a hundred years younger than me, hmm).

Of course, if you do hate Sebastian, let me assure you he's not getting away with any 'Michael' sh*t here.

* * *

><p>Chapter Three<p>

Sebastian was cabbing it when he arrived in town, so Blaine had decided to take Kurt when he and Sebastian went out that night.

Kurt wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to. Blaine had insisted that he wanted his old friend to meet his new partner, and of course Kurt couldn't say no. But when he'd been alive the last place you'd have ever seen him was a smoke and vomit filled bar, for the obvious reasons of the smoke and vomit. So it followed that he wouldn't be any more thrilled that not only was he going but instead of being inside, he'd be waiting in the parking lot. Just like everyone else's 'partners' didn't.

It didn't help that Kurt was still jealous of Sebastian for the whole 'having a body' thing.

But Kurt wasn't about to actually tell Blaine how he felt, so there was no way to politely bow out of going. There was nothing for Kurt to do but wait until Sebastian got to Blaine's place, they caught up a little inside (Kurt refused to think about what they might be doing while they 'caught up'), and they came to get him.

When that finally happened, Kurt used the few moments it took for them to get to him to try and figure out who this Sebastian guy was. He was fairly attractive, and dressed relatively expensively. Much more outgoing than either Kurt or Blaine, he dominated the conversation in a way that didn't seem rude or pushy. And from the way he was walking next to Blaine, close but not too close, it seemed that Blaine had been completely candid when he had described their relationship as simply platonic.

Sebastian's eyes widened when he caught sight of Kurt. "Blaine, you've been holding out on me. Where did you get this amazing piece of hardware?"

Blaine blushed, as it was obvious that Sebastian was unaware of what, or rather who, Kurt really was. "That's not really something I could have explained until now. This is the car Knight Industries built for me. The Knight Ultimate Robotic Transport, K.U.R.T. for short. Kurt, I'd like you to me my friend Sebastian Smythe."

"It's nice to meet you Mr Smythe."

Sebastian, to his credit, didn't immediately leap back in shock. "Oh my god, that's so cool. Hey, call me Sebastian, okay?"

"Okay." Kurt had to admit that so far this wasn't going to badly. It didn't hurt that Sebastian seemed completely uninterested in further questions about Kurt's inner workings, and just talked to him like he was another guy. Or girl maybe, since from Blaine's description of him, Sebastian would have been flirting hardcore if he'd been treating Kurt like a guy.

A lifetime ago Kurt would have been offended. But given the circumstances, Kurt understood the reasoning.

Of course, not prying into how Kurt ran didn't preclude Sebastian from taking control of Kurt's sound system and seeing what it could do. "Kurt, you get this guy into the 2010s yet?" Sebastian asked. "I love him, but Blaine's taste in music is archaic."

"Um." Well, this was bound to be awkward. "I'm not quite up on modern music myself. I've been listening to the new Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, and Lady Gaga, of course. But I don't really know what else people are listening to right now."

"Aw," Sebastian chuckled. "Blaine, you've found a kindred spirit. You can be lame together."

Kurt's vehicle mode went over a pothole, and Sebastian lurched due to a temporary failure of the shocks on his side. "Sorry about that," Kurt quipped with playful venom. "Shocks are fixed now."

Sebastian laughed. "I'll bet they are. At least until I insult you again."

Kurt laughed at that, but he noticed that Blaine didn't. Blaine, who was looking uncomfortable the moment Sebastian brought up Kurt's taste in music. "Kurt's just a little behind the curve," Blaine defended. "He's been... in storage for a while and he's only now catching up. In another couple of months I'm sure I'll once again be the only one in this car that's musically lame."

* * *

><p>Artie should have gone home 3 hours ago, but as usual night found him still hunched over one of his workstations. Running through code today, he'd had a breakthrough that unfortunately resulted in his having to go back through everything he'd written so far. But he was almost finished, and he figured that now that he'd gotten this nailed down he'd be able to start downloading the software tomorrow.<p>

Which was why it was so irritating when Kurt Hummel's face appeared on the screen instead of the code he was working on. "What do you think you're doing?"

Artie jumped back, angry but also startled. "How the hell did you get in there?"

Kurt shrugged. "I'm not actually in here. My vehicle mode is hard-linked to the computers here. All I have to do is link into the security cameras and mics. It's like Skype, only there's no physical 'me' on the other end."

Artie ignored the urge to inform K.U.R.T. that no one used Skype anymore. "Get off my screen K.U.R.T. I'm busy."

"So I see." But Kurt did leave the monitor Artie was working on, moving to one of the big overhead screens. "Which brings me back to my original question. What do you think you're doing with that?" Kurt asked, gesturing to a nearby platform that held an Artie simulacrum.

Artie sighed. The K.U.R.T. program was a lot nosier than he remembered Kurt being. "I thought that would be pretty obvious, K.U.R.T. I upgraded you, and now I'm upgrading me."

"You're planning on dumping your consciousness into your robot there?" Oddly enough, Kurt didn't seem impressed. "You haven't figured out the rather sizable step you're missing here?"

Step? "K.U.R.T. I know you're a computer, but that doesn't make you an expert on them," Artie declared. "This is my chance to finally be able to walk again."

"Okay, putting aside the fact that this level of overkill would be like designing and building a jet engine because horses weren't pulling your covered wagon fast enough," Kurt sighed, "this is a completely untested technology. What are we going to do if it doesn't work? Are you going to open up your own chest and start tinkering?"

Artie rolled his eyes. "Kurt! -I mean, K.U.R.T.-"

"Just call me Kurt," he advised. "After all, we are going to be related after all."

"Except I'm going to be transferring my consciousness into this thing," Artie growled. "You DIED, Kurt. This? This is just a copy of you."

Kurt frowned; monitors all over the lab fluttered and the lights went out. "You don't want me as an enemy, Artie. Don't piss me off."

Artie's eyes widened, picturing his programming vanishing in a fit of electronic pique. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry. Just don't blow my life's work to hell."

"I should." Kurt still sounded mad, and the lights stayed off. But the screens stopped flickering, and Kurt seemed more concerned than irked. "This is dangerous, Artie. You need a prototype to work on, before you try it on yourself."

Artie smirked, now seeing where this was going. "You volunteering?"

"If something goes wrong when you're in there, you're fucked. At least, I have somewhere to go if this avatar of yours doesn't work."

Well, that was a thought Artie hadn't considered before. It made sense, but he wasn't about to give in to something that was mostly his own creation that easily. "I don't suppose that this has anything to do with your 'relationship' with Blaine Anderson, does it?"

Kurt scoffed. "Why don't you let Blaine handle the investigative work. You suck at being a detective."

"Really? And you haven't thought at all about what you might be able to do with him in one of my nice shiny new bodies?"

Kurt's face fell, and Artie felt a tinge of something that felt like guilt. Artie felt like he should apologize, but suddenly Kurt didn't seem to be looking at him anymore. "What is it?"

"Security video is down. I can't see you anymore." Kurt paused, growing more agitated. "I can't get them back up."

Artie was about to turn around. Take a look at the cameras himself. But before he could, he caught a glimpse of someone out of the corner of his eye. "Oh my god."

"Artie? What's wrong? Artie!"

It was the last thing Artie heard before everything went black.

* * *

><p>Sebastian Smythe had several amazing talents. Given their non-history, Blaine hadn't ever seen most of them. But Sebastian had a knack for getting people to open up to him (he credited it for the number of men who'd 'opened up to him' over the years), so it wasn't surprising that within a few minutes of arriving at the pub Blaine had spilled his guts about his feelings for Kurt.<p>

"Kurt's just amazing," Blaine explained, simultaneously enthused and angst ridden. "He's smart and funny, and you know more than anyone that sexiness has everything to do with attitude and nothing to do with physicality."

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Sebastian replied dryly.

"You know what I mean," Blaine told him. He slammed back his drink anxiously. "Damn it. I know how bad this is. It's not like I don't know that. But I'm crazy about him. He's the high point of every day. I miss him when I can't be with him. Hell, I've spent evenings just chilling out in his vehicle mode because I can't bring myself to go into my apartment. I know how impossible this situation is, and I just can't bring myself to end it."

Sebastian considered this. It was one of Sebastian's best point (in Blaine's opinion), that Sebastian never judged anyone. Of course, it would be pretty hypocritical of him if he was. "Well, all I know about him is what I saw on the ride over here." And Sebastian was using the term 'him' without needing to be asked, another point in his favour. "But he's pretty awesome for a machine. Video of him is definitely hot. So maybe you shouldn't worry so much about the fact that you're never going to have your white wedding and picket fence. Speaking from experience, the relationships you know aren't going anywhere are the hottest."

Well that was comforting, if lacking somewhat in actual advice. "What am I going to do, then?"

"You could strip naked and masturbate in the front seat," Sebastian quipped with a smile.

It was ridiculous enough to make Blaine laugh, something only Kurt had been able to manage recently. "Why am I friends with you?"

"You live vicariously through me," Sebastian explained, cheekily.

Blaine laughed again, but before he could say anything his watch beeped. Thankful that he was in a relatively quiet pub, not the clubs Sebastian preferred (or else he might have missed it), Blaine lifted it up and activated the communicator. "Hey, Kurt. What's up?"

Kurt's achingly beautiful face appeared on the screen. But unlike usual, that face was twisted with concern and there was a flashing red light behind him. "I need you, Blaine. There's a break-in in progress at the lab. Artie's in trouble."

Blaine stood up in alarm, Sebastian right beside him. "Is he hurt? What's going on?"

"I don't know," Kurt admitted. "Cameras have been manually cut, and I'm not picking up Artie on mic. They could have taken him for all I know."

"I'll be right outside," Blaine told him, shutting down his link. He turned to Sebastian. "I've gotta go."

"You aren't calling the police?" Sebastian wondered aloud.

"Artie's orders: secure the lab first, then call the authorities." Blaine didn't like it, but Artie didn't want anyone, even the police, catching a glimpse of anything top secret. Blaine had his wallet open, paying for the tab and handing some bills to Sebastian. "I can call you a cab-"

"Forget that," Sebastian insisted, not taking the money. "I'm not letting you and Kurt go someplace you might actually get hurt. Not alone anyway."

* * *

><p>Artie was thankfully still there when Blaine and Sebastian burst into the lab. Knocked on the ground and stunned, but he was already coming around and his pulse was steady. "Blaine? Is Artie all right?" Kurt called out.<p>

"Seems to be," Blaine stated, relieved. "Artie, are you okay?"

"Think so," he muttered.

Sebastian sat at one of the computer interfaces. "Kurt, is this guy still on site?"

Kurt, who was still featured on one of the main monitors, went through the cameras he had access to in the area. "I don't thinks so. A red light camera down the road caught a glimpse of a car pulling out of here. Not enough to get a good look, but the timing and speed are both right."

"See if you can find another camera that got a look at his car," Artie ordered, looking more alert. Alert enough to notice Sebastian checking over the system in front of him. "Who the hell are you?"

Sebastian looked up, sheepishly. "Friend of Blaine's: Sebastian Smythe." He extended a hand.

Artie didn't take it. "Get off my computers," he said. Sebastian did as asked, no questions or excuses. Blaine was a little irritated by that, as Sebastian was good with computers and could have been a big help. He seemed concerned and practical about the situation (and had calmed a worried Kurt on the way over), which made Blaine feel less guilty about dragging him here.

"Did you get a good look at the guy," Sebastian asked, moving to check out the video feed lines which, indeed, had been cut. Artie shook his head.

"I got a quick look," Kurt told him. "It was the live feed though, and he knocked out the system before it recorded."

Professional then, Blaine mused. "Kurt do you think you could do a composite picture?" Blaine asked.

"I tried that," Kurt admitted, exasperated. "It won't do you any good."

"I'd still like to see it."

Kurt seemed unwilling to produce it, which worried Blaine a little. Was this someone who Kurt knew? But then Kurt did show Blaine the picture, and Blaine understood his reluctance.

Blaine's father had gotten a drawing tool called an Etch-A-Sketch when he was a child, and had passed it on to Blaine when he was old enough. Blaine hated it, as you could draw horizontally and vertically, but not in circles or diagonally. And unfortunately, Kurt's composite looked like it had been done on an Etch-A-Sketch. "I SUCK at drawing," he complained.

"Well good," Sebastian quipped, looking a little relieved. "I was starting to think you didn't have any limits. Felt a little self-conscious."

Artie and Kurt both rolled their eyes. "Kurt, I need that traffic camera footage."

"I think we'd have better luck with that once we call the police," Sebastian noted.

"It'll be too late by then," Artie declared, anxiously. Blaine started to get worried again. Artie was irritable and paranoid at the best of times, but this was getting above normal.

Kurt's eyes swept the room. "What did he get? Was it...?"

Blaine wasn't sure what Kurt was talking about, and Artie sure as hell didn't want to talk about it. "No, I got it into the vault before he knocked me out. But there's all sorts of parts and equipment missing. We have to get it back."

"We will," Blaine insisted.

"Agreed," Kurt responded. "Artie, there's no record of computer access before we got here. Without that they can have all the hardware they want; it's not worth anything.

Artie nodded, starting to calm down. "Right. Of course, you're right.

Sebastian quietly slipped back to the station he'd sat down at.

* * *

><p>The guy Sebastian had hired was understandably jumpy. He'd almost gotten caught, and if he didn't get out of town soon he might still be. "You got the money?"<p>

"I've got the money, honey. If you've got the time," Sebastian chuckled. "And the goods."

The guy popped his trunk, unamused. No one ever got Sebastian's jokes. Except Blaine. "What the hell is all this stuff? It looks like body parts."

"Nothing you or I need to concern ourselves with," Sebastian told him, honestly. "My associate needs these things, and he's very grateful for your assistance." Sebastian gave him the money and started taking the equipment out of the guy's trunk. "That should get you safely out of town. I suggest you move quickly; wanting more money will only delay you long enough to risk getting caught."

"This isn't some crime drama," the guy snorted in disgust. "You paid me, and I'm not about to stick around to blackmail you or anything. I'm gone the second you've emptied my trunk."

Sebastian slammed said trunk shut. "Which I just have. Good luck." Sebastian went over to the car he hadn't told Blaine he had, while his accomplice made tracks. Getting inside, he dialled his associates number (by memory, no sense leaving a trail on his phone). "I've got the equipment."

"Did he get the software? It's useless without the programming."

"I never intended for him to steal that," Sebastian stated calmly. "That could have gotten him caught." He pulled a zip drive out of his pocket and twirled it in his fingers. "But don't worry. I've got everything you need right here."

(to be continued)

That line about masturbating in the front seat? I've seen original Knight Rider slash, and that's seriously what it consists of. A little disturbing.


	4. Chapter 4

I hope everyone likes this new chapter, because it had a heck of a journey getting here. My computer is in the shop, which resulted in me rewriting the first scene of this chapter completely on a different computer. I needed to save it onto my e-mail and then eventually download a new word program to transfer it to. All that, and I'm not sure I'm completely happy with it.

Also, it's nearly Christmas for some reason. Sorry, I don't know where that came from.

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

Blaine Anderson was going to be very embarrassed when he woke up.

He wasn't having an erotic dream about Kurt; those were so mortifyingly frequent Blaine was almost desensitized to them.

Almost.

No, Blaine was now having cute 'coupley' dreams about Kurt. Buying a new house, introducing him to Blaine's parents (which always went so much better than how it would really go). And Blaine's absolutely most head-slapping favorite: His and Kurt's wedding.

That was what Blaine was dreaming about right now. Central Park in June, with a big band and hundreds of well wishers. Not that Blaine particularly wanted a big wedding. But every time Blaine fell further for Kurt, every time Blaine realized what a mess he was in, the throng cheering them in his dreams got a little bigger.

"And by the powers vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you married. You may now kiss as husbands."

They kissed, and the dream changed. Oh, the conscious part of Blaine's mind went. That's where the smut went.

"Oh god, Kurt," Blaine moaned, as Kurt ran kisses down Blaine's bare neck. "I love you so much."

"Blaine?" Kurt sounded more puzzled than aroused. In the back of Blaine's mind, he knew why that was, but couldn't recall it.

"I'm so happy right now," Blaine moaned.

"I can see that." Kurt. Sounding both awkward, and incredibly amused.

And then Blaine woke up. In the driver's seat of Kurt's vehicle mode. Hard.

Humiliated.

Kurt had vanished completely from the screen his image called home. That alone was an indication of how embarrassed Kurt was right now. "Perhaps it might be best if you went home," he suggested, far more blandly than Blaine felt right now. "You've been working over time, trying to get somewhere with the break-in. A rest won't hurt."

"It won't help, either," Blaine noted, latching onto the new topic with relief. Not that their lack of progress was much better a topic. They were looking at very little physical evidence, and since Artie wouldn't let the police onto the computers there wasn't much to go on. In fact, the police were starting to drop hints that without additional cooperation from KI, they'd be cold-casing the break-in in the not too distant future.

"Neither is being so worn out you're falling asleep reading and re-reading reports," Kurt pointed out. "You're not a machine."

Blaine frowned. He hated being reminded about how different he and Kurt were. "And what about you? Is that really all there is to your life, then?"

"Actually, I'm learning conversational Italian when I'm not working," Kurt told him, Kurt's smug face finally making a reappearance on his screen. "You know I love languages."

Blaine was immediately consumed with thoughts of Kurt whispering sweet Italian nothings into Blaine's ear. He sighed; it wasn't the best time for such thoughts. His re-tightening pants agreed.

* * *

><p>It had started snowing more frequently the last few weeks, so when the flakes began falling with a frequency that required flipping the wipers from intermitent to low speed Blaine took driving control back from Kurt. Not that Kurt wasn't an excellent driver (Kurt had noted how ironic it was, given that he hadn't lived long to get an un-graduated license), but because Blaine had convinced Kurt to share the load. While Blaine dealt with mundane matters like steering and speed, Kurt could focus his attention on things like traction and braking. Kurt could do it all by himself if need be, but he appreciated that Blaine wanted to make things easier on Kurt.<p>

"Looks like we're going to have a white Christmas," Blaine noted with a smile.

"So it seems." Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt's unenthusiastic reply, and Kurt had to smile at him. "I know you wouldn't know it to look at me now, but I used to be an indoor kind of guy."

"I probably should have guessed that by now," Blaine admitted. "One good thing, though. With all your sensors built into the inside, you pretty much get to be indoor all the time."

"I like the way you think, Blaine."

"So what do you want for Christmas?" Blaine asked, excitedly.

"Christmas?"

"Yeah. You know. Santa Claus, and ho ho ho. And mistletoe and presents to pretty cars?"

Kurt smiled at the joke, but his insides felt remarkably twisted considering they were all bolted into place. What did he want for Christmas? That was a question he'd never thought he'd have to consider ever again. "No dice, please. Other than that..."

"Okay," Blaine grinned, not seeming to have gotten how ridiculous a request this was. "I'll surprise you."

It was funny. Because there was only one thing that Kurt wanted for Christmas, and that was going to be more a surprise for Blaine than it was for Kurt. Lying on one of Artie's lab tables (or crammed into secure storage depending on how paranoid Artie was feeling at that exact moment) was another simulacrum, one that Artie was building for Kurt as a prototype and test model. Kurt wasn't sure exactly why he hadn't told Blaine yet. Part of him wanted to make sure that everything was working before Blaine got his hopes up. But he had to admit that part of him wanted to announce that Kurt Hummel was back by slipping naked into Blaine's bed on Christmas Eve. Which was entirely the wrong way to go about it, so he kept reminding himself that that would NOT be happening.

Of course, the reason why Artie hadn't said anything was much simpler. Artie just didn't talk to people anymore. Unless it was Kurt or Santana, who could literally force him to.

"Kurt is something wrong?" Blaine may not have been able to see the difference between a forced image of Kurt smiling and a real one (mostly because Kurt's graphics program was limited enough that there wasn't a difference), but he could read a silence pretty well. "You sound a little down. Is it about Christmas?"

Kurt decided he didn't want to have that conversation (especially since it might soon be a moot point), and decided to bring up the other thing that was bothering him. "Not specifically. You just reminded me of Artie, that's all."

"Ah." Blaine knew full well what Kurt meant by that. They'd never had an actual conversation about Artie, but they'd had several pieces of one. "You know Santana invited Artie to spend Christmas with her and her girlfriend if he didn't have plans?"

"Yeah, I knew." Christmas with Santana and Brittany, which Kurt would have jumped at if he could still jump. But of course, Artie had plans. Plans to tinker and re-tinker with his newest obsession. And Kurt, as much as he was concerned about Artie, didn't have it in him to ask Artie to slow down. "He's working on a side project right now that's taking up a lot of his time. Hopefully, it'll be done before then."

"It's not good for him to just be all work, all the time," Blaine pointed out, needlessly. "He's not a machine. And even if he was, we've already established with you that that's no excuse."

"Unfortunately, Artie doesn't listen to me." Kurt frowned at that. Artie was getting better at treating Kurt like he was a person, so Kurt was left with the unfortunate conclusion that Artie now treated everyone with the casual disdain he had for Kurt.

"I don't get why he can wrap his head around the fact that you're real," Blaine complained. "He built your vehicle mode; if anyone should understand that he brought you back, it should be him."

"I think his mind gets that," Kurt answered. "But once you mourn for something, put it in the past, it's really hard to accept that maybe it might really be back."

Blaine's face lost all expression, but his eyes were suddenly sad. "Is- Is that how you feel?"

Kurt considered that. "A little, I guess. This?" he gestured to the vehicle mode around them both. "It's not me. I'm a person, Blaine. At least I'm supposed to be. As long as I'm still in here, I'm not really back, am I?"

Blaine didn't have an answer for that, and fell silent. Kurt could only hope that Artie's obsession would prove useful, now. Hope that maybe he might actually be able to come back.

For Blaine.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, could I speak to Blaine Anderson-Hummel?"<p>

Blaine pulled his phone far enough away from his ear to look perplexed at it. It didn't really help matters. "Could you repeat that?"

There was some indistinct talk on the other end, before the rather confused sounding woman returned to it. "You're Blaine, right? Your partner is Kurt Hummel the car?"

Now he knew that he referred to Kurt as his partner all the time, but Blaine had never heard of anyone making that big an error before. Although that did give Blaine a hint as to who it was who was calling. Santana's girlfriend, who Blaine had met only a few times but who'd left an indelible, if scattered, impression. "Kurt and I aren't life partners, it's more like how police detectives are partners. Is this Brittany?"

There was some shuffling around before the woman answered. "Can you see me? Did I call someone I was in the same room as again?"

"No, it was just a guess. I am a detective, remember."

"Oh, right," she laughed. "I actually need to hire you. Artie is missing, and Santana has her hands full with baby Sugar, so she can't go get him."

Missing? Blaine was about to go to high alert, when it occurred to him that this - the oddest conversation he'd ever had - might not be something to get worked up about yet. "Do you know where he was last seen?"

"Oh yeah," Brittany chirped. "He's at his lab. If you hurry he might still be there. Remind him that he's having supper over here."

Blaine exhaled in relief. "Sure thing."

There was another pause, and then Brittany was back on the phone. "Santana says she'd invite you to come along, but we don't have a drive through in the kitchen. It was a pretty close call last week, though."

And then she was gone. Blaine hung up his phone and headed out to Kurt's vehicle mode. "You know, for as long as I've worked there, you'd think Santana could stop being a bitch at least long enough to finish asking me for a favor."

But Kurt didn't give a smart response. In fact, Kurt didn't say anything at all. Blaine got in the vehicle mode, puzzled. "Not going to dignify that with an answer?" Kurt did know Santana from before, so maybe that was it.

Still nothing, though. Blaine flicked some switches, but the computer system didn't come back on. "Kurt?"

That was damn odd. Could the hard link with the Knight Industries Tower be down? Blaine tried to remember what Kurt had told him about his computer system. But he couldn't recall if the body of his 'programming' was at the lab (which would explain the shut down), or in the car. Obviously this had never happened before.

Not knowing what else to do, Blaine hit the starter switch, relieved to hear that at least the vehicle itself was still working. Putting the car into gear, he headed towards the KI Tower. Despite the fact that Kurt couldn't hear him (presumably), Blaine couldn't stop talking to him. "I hope that Santana doesn't mind if Artie's a little late. Because I'm not letting him go until he gets you up and running again."

* * *

><p>It was a much longer ride without Kurt's company. He tried to reach Kurt on his watch communicator whenever he had to stop at a light or stop sign, but there was no response from that, either. Nor did anyone answer when Blaine tried to call the lab directly.<p>

Not that that was unusual, though. Artie didn't even have a fifty-fifty track record of answering the phone without Santana there.

Blaine stepped off the elevator, feeling a little illicit going past the reception desk without Santana there. It had only happened once before, and he'd been too busy the night of the break-in to notice. He looped around the desk and went into the lab, intent on playfully scolding Artie about overworking.

The words died in his mouth.

Artie was lying on the ground. Surrounded by a single pool of light in the darkness. Just like he had been the night of the break-in.

Except his eyes were open.

And the angle of his neck...

"Oh god. Artie."

Blaine ran to Artie's side. Not sure what he could do, but certain he had to be doing something.

Blaine tried to shift Artie onto his back, intent on doing CPR. But he'd forgotten to secure Artie's neck, and his head flopped around like a macabre bobble headed doll. Blaine swallowed hard, forcing the bile rising in his throat to go back down.

There was no question about it. Artie's neck was broken.

No amount of CPR would help that. Artie was...

"Oh god. Artie."

Blaine was trying to get his mind working again, trying to remember what he should be doing right now, when he realized it.

Blaine wasn't alone in the lab.

Blaine's hand flailed onto the nearby workstation, practically of it's own accord. It hit the main lights, and Blaine had to squint his eyes at the sudden brightness.

When his eyes opened again, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Kurt?"

But it wasn't possible. Kurt was his car, he wasn't a person anymore. He couldn't just be standing there, looking as shaken as Blaine was.

There was only the two of them in the lab, though. And Blaine knew for sure that HE hadn't killed Artie.

Blaine had his gun on him, though it was force of habit rather than ever having needed it. So he was clumsy enough pulling it out, that it gave the murderer (who was NOT Kurt, dammit) a chance to shake off his own stupor and make a run for it. "Hold it right there!" Blaine shouted.

But Blaine couldn't quite bring himself to pull the trigger. The guy picked up one of the heavy car wrenches (one handed, which was itself a little shocking) and swung hard against one of the windows. It half shattered, half popped out of the frame. And as it fell into the street, the guy jumped right after it.

Blaine ran to the window. They were only on the second floor, and while the first floor had an impressively high ceiling, he knew they weren't far enough off the ground for the fall to disable someone.

But by the time he reached the window, whoever it was he'd just seen was already gone. Blaine returned to Artie's side, knowing he needed to call this in, but unable to really move for the time being.

Too late.

"Oh god. Artie."

* * *

><p>Kurt ran. "I can't believe it. I've been a person for less than ten hours and I'm already wanted for murder."<p>

That wasn't the worst of it, though. It was knowing that Blaine believed it.

Kurt honestly didn't know what had happened. He didn't know why Artie had decided they'd tested Kurt's avatar enough. Didn't know why Artie rushed to get himself downloaded into his own robotic body.

Didn't know why that avatar had then proceeded to kill Artie. Obviously, there was something critically wrong with it.

It had occurred to him that maybe there was a malfunction in his body, too. That would explain why when Blaine came in, Kurt was so frightened that he just stood in the shadows until Blaine saw him. Or maybe it was just that he wasn't used to having a physical response to his emotions anymore.

Dammit Artie, why did you think it was a good idea for me to sweat when I'm scared?

Kurt didn't know what to do. He needed help, clearly. And unfortunately, the one person he'd trust the most to help him now thought that he was an assassin.

There was one possible option, but he needed to download back into his vehicle mode to do it. Kurt ducked into an alley, wondering what he could do with his avatar so it wouldn't be found while he wasn't in it. There was a dumpster there, which was familiar if disgusting. Feeling a distinct sensation of deja-vu, Kurt crawled up the side of it, hoping that no one saw him going inside. At least he knew that the dumpsters in this area of town wouldn't be picked up for another two days.

Kurt closed his eyes, stretching who he was along the link between the car and the avatar. It was a lot harder to be inside the vehicle mode without turning on something that might give away his presence, but he didn't know if Blaine had gone back to the car and checking would give him away.

He managed to get Blaine's messaging system open, taking much longer than normal to make sure that when he was finished there would be no indication that he'd used it. He wasn't sure if he could reach Finn, but-

There. Finn had left Blaine his phone number. Kurt dialed quickly, and if he'd still been in his avatar body, he probably would have cried when it picked up. "Hello?"

"Finn. Finn, it's Kurt. I'm sending you an address by text, can you be there as fast as you can?

"I need your help."

(to be continued)


	5. Chapter 5

Apologies to those of you that were hoping for something a little more romantic for the first time Blaine saw Kurt in his new body. I had this planned all along, but it wasn't until I was actually writing the scene that I realized how this probably looked to the audience. Sorry. I promise there are some actual romantic scenes coming up. And Carole's in this chapter (and if I do say so myself, I love her role here). I think I've gotten to the point where I've written more Carole than the show has.

Chapter 5

Finn was there within half an hour. So was Rachel. Kurt hadn't been expecting that, though he couldn't really answer the question of 'why'. Maybe it was the shock of what had already happened this evening (could he really go into shock? that was another thing Artie hadn't thought through). All he knew for sure was that when the two of them arrived and started walking through the parking lot calling his name, he wasn't sure he wanted to answer.

"What does it look like?" Rachel asked.

"Really high end sports car," Finn told her, apparently talking about Kurt. "I think Artie designed it himself; I've never seen anything like it on line."

"Well, I'm not seeing anything that expensive here," Rachel admitted, sounding disappointed.

It was odd seeing her like this. As with Finn and Artie, it seemed as though his relationship with Rachel had changed drastically since he'd died (only Santana continued to treat him with the breezy bitchiness he was used to). Yes, Rachel and he had a sort of ceasefire after the duet competition. But he'd really never expected that to last. It seemed as though losing Kurt the way they had had frozen that moment in time. Kurt wondered if that meant that it would fade again now that he was back.

Of course, the way things were going, who knew if he'd even be around long enough for that to happen.

Necessity finally drove Kurt out of hiding. "I don't have my vehicle mode any more," he admitted. "Just this one."

Not surprisingly, Rachel and Finn both looked at him like they were seeing a ghost. But then Rachel surprised Kurt yet again by throwing herself into his arms and bawling. Kurt was left with his arms loosely wrapped around her while he made reassuring noises.

Finn on the other hand, didn't look like he could move. "Kurt? How-?"

"It's a miracle," Rachel sobbed.

Kurt shook his head. "It's only a miracle of modern technology."

"What? How?" Finn shook his head, trying to clear it. "You're a robot?"

It was a little impressive how quickly Finn pieced that together. "Yeah. I'm me inside, but the outside is still all metal."

Rachel looked up at him. But she didn't look at his arms, or his face. She looked right in his eyes. And it seemed she liked what she saw. "It's still pretty miraculous."

It didn't feel miraculous right now. But he remembered how he felt that afternoon when he'd first downloaded into this new 'Avatar' mode. That had been pretty amazing, so at least he understood the sentiment. "Yeah, Artie-"

But then Kurt was crying again; this time he was the one who held Rachel tightly. Although he was only able to keep that up for a few moments, as his tear glands finally ran dry after a few hours of crying on and off. Not having any tears did nothing to lessen how he felt, though. "Something's happened. I'll tell you everything, but we need to get off the street."

* * *

><p>Blaine sat in a seat just back from the Knight Industries board room table, and listened to Santana finish giving a report on what had happened the night before. By all rights, it should have been him that did that. But Blaine was still in shock and Santana, in an uncharacteristic moment of decency, had volunteered to speak.<p>

The news wasn't good. "There's nothing left in the main computer. Artie has some protected files in another server, but tech support doesn't think they'll be able to crack his security system until at least the end of the week. We can't get the safes open either, but as near as we can tell there's nothing in them. And..." Santana paused, and Blaine could have sworn that she choked back a sob. "K.U.R.T. has been totally erased. There's nothing left in the vehicle mode, and no sign of the program in the main system."

"Oh my god." Blaine looked up, at the sound of this very real upset. Carole Hudson, one of the board members (Blaine belatedly recognized that she'd be the mother of the Finn Hudson that had visited Kurt before), had her hands over her mouth and looked as though she was fighting a losing battle to keep from crying.

The Board Chairperson (who's name Blaine was blanking on right now), shook her head. She looked deeply troubled, and Blaine was heartened to see that she actually seemed concerned that Kurt was gone. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You said there were additional files. Maybe the K.U.R.T. program was backed up in there."

Well, that was a nightmare thought: Kurt trapped back in the computer systems again. With no way to get him out for several days, if at all. Blaine wasn't sure he was relieved or not that he didn't believe it. "Maybe. But I think the reason why the files are missing is that the guy that killed Artie wanted to destroy K.U.R.T. too."

Everyone turned to him, surprised. No doubt they'd decided he wasn't going to say anything today. Chairperson... Barstow (that was it; Dr. Bonnie Barstow) flipped through the notes she'd gotten at the beginning of the meeting. "I was meaning to ask you about that. Your report said that Kurt Hummel is alive, and that he's the one that killed Dr. Abrams?" He wasn't sure if she hadn't disguised the disbelief in her voice, or if she merely couldn't.

"I know that doesn't sound possible." In fact, even the police had taken his theory very lightly. Their current assumption was that this was related to the earlier break-in. And given what had been taken, Blaine couldn't discount that possibility, either. He just didn't think they were necessarily mutually exclusive. "But I don't know how else to explain what I saw. My guess is that he found out what Artie was doing here, and got offended that Artie was trying to replace him. I know that leaves the big question of how-"

"Mr. Anderson." Mrs. Hudson again, who apparently had much more experience in reining herself in than Blaine could have suspected, as she was not crying at all. She was furious. "I was almost Kurt Hummel's step-mother. I planned his funeral. I DRESSED him for the last time. I can assure you that Kurt didn't survive that accident."

The room had gone deathly quiet, but Mrs. Hudson wasn't finished yet. She got to her feet and strode right over to Blaine, her tiny form still towering over his chair. "Even if through some miracle you did happen to see Kurt, I can PROMISE that there's no way in HELL that he would do something like this to Artie!"

Blaine dropped his gaze, unable to look her in the eye. "I- I don't know what to tell you."

Carole Hudson's face calmed a little, and Dr. Barstow cleared her throat. "What happened to Artie is a police matter now, so all this speculation is pointless," Barstow told them. "Ms. Lopez, I know you're more a manager than scientist, but I think that's what Tech Support needs right now. I'm putting you in charge for the foreseeable future. Get down there and crack as many whips as you have to. I want those locked-out files."

"Not a problem," Santana told her, exiting the room without another word.

Dr. Barstow adjourned the meeting, and as the room emptied out Blaine finally braved to face Carole Hudson again. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hudson," he told her. "Kurt's been my partner for six months now, and I don't believe that he'd do something like this either. I just- I don't know what to think right now."

To her credit, Carole just nodded. "Why don't you take a couple of days off. I know losing both of them at the same time must have been a shock for you."

Which was a nice way of saying maybe Blaine imagined the whole thing. Blaine wished he could say that was impossible. Before he could answer though, Carole's phone rang and she excused herself. Blaine could just make out what she was saying. "Finn, h- What? Why not?"

Blaine left to give her her privacy. The last thing he heard was her saying, "I'll be right there."

* * *

><p>Carole screamed when she saw Kurt. She hoped it at least sounded like a happy scream, but something in her told her it probably wasn't. Because she couldn't move. No matter that she wanted to hug Kurt; make sure that he was real. That he was honestly back She couldn't move. "How?" she gasped.<p>

"Artie made him a new body, Mom," Finn told her, wincing a little when he said Artie's name. But just a little; Finn's enthusiasm lacked temperament, surprisingly given the news. "That's why you couldn't find his program in the KI computers. He was all here."

Carole felt a rush of fear run through her. Despite how badly she wanted Kurt to be here, she couldn't forget that Blaine Anderson had reported something just like this as having been the main suspect in Artie's murder. "Finn, I just swore on a stack of bibles that Kurt couldn't have killed Artie-"

"I didn't kill Artie!" Kurt exclaimed anxiously. "Artie made himself an Avatar, too. That's what killed him. I'd swear on a stack of bibles too, but you and I both know how much THAT would be worth," he added with a wry smile.

Well, that certainly sounded like the Kurt she knew. And the explanation made about as much sense as anything else that afternoon. "So there's an out of control robot out there?" Carole asked.

"Yes," Rachel told her. "And from what Kurt tells us, Artie is still in there somewhere."

"Mom, if we can get that robot back, we get Artie back," Finn assured her.

Well, that explained Finn's mood at least.

Carole wasn't sure what to believe, and then her eyes fell on her almost-stepson again. She realized that she had to know. Carole moved forward and gave Kurt a tight hug, trying to feel what her brain couldn't figure. He was a little taller than she remembered, but not as cool to the touch. But despite what she'd been told, he just felt right. Like holding the past. "Oh my god, it's really you."

Kurt closed his eyes and leaned into her embrace, looking calm for the first time since she'd walked in the door. "It's me."

But Carole let him go. She couldn't break down. Couldn't just have this moment. There was just too much they needed to do right now. "I don't suppose you have any proof that I can take back to KI with me?"

Kurt frowned as he thought about that. Finally, he went back into the kitchen and grabbed a pencil and paper. "I don't know, but this should get you into Artie's secure files," he stated as he wrote down several rows of words and numbers. "Hopefully, there's something there. Artie's never going to speak to me again, once he knows I even have these," he added with a strained smile.

Carole took the paper with no smile at all. She had an idea, but she didn't want to ask it of him. "How long before you need... power or supplies, or whatever."

"As long as I can stop crying, I won't need anything but power," Kurt told her, sounding a little embarrassed. "That'll last seventy-two hours or so at full tilt, but if I go into sleep mode I can hold out indefinitely."

"Would you hear a phone ringing?" Carole asked. At his nod, she turned to her son. "Finn, give him your cell. If anyone asks, tell them you misplaced it."

"Why does he need a phone?" Finn asked, worried.

"Finn, he can't stay here," she informed him. "Once I take these codes back with me, this will be the first place they look."

"Mom!" Finn gasped.

Carole turned away, unable to watch her son's face fall. "I didn't sell your dad's house," she told Kurt instead. "The power isn't turned on, but it sounds like you'll be okay."

Kurt didn't like it; she could see he didn't like it. But he nodded anyways. "I'll be fine."

Carole turned back to Finn, though she carefully avoided eye contact. "Drive him straight there and then come straight back. No stopping, don't look anybody up while you're there."

Rachel leaned into Finn's side. "I'll make sure he does."

Carole hugged them all, Kurt included. "Good luck. I'll talk to Blaine Anderson. Hopefully once he sees what's in those files he'll believe me."

"Could you-" Kurt faltered, looking so much like he had as a teenager. He was even blushing somehow. "When you talk to Blaine, can you tell him I'm sorry I just took off. I'm not really used to feeling things after all this time, and I kind of freaked out when he pointed his gun at me. No wait! Don't tell him that! I don't want him to feel guilty-"

"I'll explain everything when I see him." Carole smiled at Kurt's obvious crush; this was something she'd never gotten to see from Kurt.

She just hoped that she got a chance to see it again. See him again.

* * *

><p>Blaine knew that he shouldn't have followed a board member. There was no reason for it, except for a nagging thought in the back of his head that it was important.<p>

But here he was, outside of Finn and Rachel Hudson's house waiting to see when Carole Hudson would leave. He was freezing in his old car (although he was lucky that at least he hadn't gotten rid of it), and bored and lonely without Kurt to keep him company.

Blaine simultaneously perked up and slouched down when the front door opened. Carole Hudson walked out onto the porch, looking atypically grim for what should have been a routine visit to her son. Finn and his wife looked concerned too, and-

There he was. Kurt Hummel.

Blaine thought his heart would stop.

Carole Hudson got in her car and drove off. Blaine stayed, not quite sure what he should be doing right now. The house's occupants made that decision for him a few moments later, when they all piled into another car and drove off. Kurt Hummel in the back seat, trying to be inconspicuous.

Blaine waited until a safe amount of time passed before he started following them. As he drove, he felt his gun once again pressed close to him. And he promised himself this time he wouldn't hesitate. He owed that to Artie.

* * *

><p>"Mr. Smythe. What can I do for you today?"<p>

Sebastian frowned, gripping his phone even tighter as he spoke. "Have you seen the news this morning?"

"Yes. There was an interesting little piece about Knight Industries on line. Handy little place, the internet."

Sebastian wasn't in the mood for a conversation about the wonders of the computer age. "So you saw, then? Artie Abrams is dead."

Sebastian's associate didn't seem concerned, though. "I'm not so sure about that."

Sebastian frowned again, but this time it was in confusion. "The article I read seemed pretty sure he was. What are we going to do? I thought we needed him."

"We don't," the answer came. "I have some plans for Dr. Abrams, assuming what I guess happened actually did. If it didn't though, I'll survive. Surviving is what I'm best at."

Sebastian relaxed a little at that. They'd been working too hard (and Sebastian had sunk too much money into this) for some copycat break-in to ruin everything. "Okay, then. What do you want me to do?"

(to be continued)


	6. Chapter 6

Glee is finally mine. Henceforth, the male lead shirt budget will be $0, and all reruns will be replaced with footage of Kurt and Blaine making out (there may not be a pants budget for that, either).

Sadly, I'm joking (or hallucinating, one or the other). You know the drill; I don't make any money off of this, and Fox doesn't sue my ass.

* * *

><p>Chapter Six<p>

It actually wasn't that hard to find Artie Abrams. It's not like the guy had been hiding.

A few quick looks into Abrams' credit card trail led Sebastian to a hotel not far from the Knight Industries tower. More specifically to the bar in said hotel. Sebastian headed down there and found Abrams at a table surrounded by pretty, if rather loose-looking girls like some TV pimp. Sebastian shook his head and headed over to the table.

Artie didn't notice Sebastian coming, completely wrapped up in one of the girls that had draped herself over him. "Dr. Abrams, I think I have a medical problem."

"I'm not that kind of doctor, sweetheart," Artie told her. "But I'm an excellent listener. Tell me your problems."

The girl giggled, and it was obvious to Sebastian that she wasn't overly concerned by her health. "Dr. Abrams, I'm just so WET you know, 'down there'." She giggled again and Sebastian rolled his eyes at the ridiculous come-on.

"Ooh, that sounds serious," Abrams replied, with mock sincerity. "I think we'd better do a very thorough examination up in my room."

"Gross," Sebastian announced as he walked up to Abrams' table. "Why don't you girls head up to his room, I'm sure he'll be along soon."

The girl proved she wasn't as innocent as she looked when she snatched Artie's keys off the table without a word and headed for the elevator. The rest of the girls followed, and Sebastian briefly wondered how much this 'exam' was going to be costing Artie.

Artie Abrams didn't seem to be at all concerned by that though, staring at Sebastian like he wasn't sure what he was seeing. "What are you doing here? Aren't you a 'friend' of Blaine's?"

"What?" Sebastian asked. "Are they going to throw me out if they find out I suck?"

Artie laughed, just a little too long for the comment he was reacting to. "Nah. Suit yourself., I just didn't know why you stopped by."

Abrams had been acting oddly since Sebastian came in. Well, odd for what his associate assured him was basically a robot. Sebastian decided to just ask, "Are you drunk?"

Abrams shook his head, but even that lazy movement looked plastered. "Not as such. The alcohol doesn't affect me anymore, so I planned some additional subroutines to make sure I could still feel like this if I wanted to. It's all very sophisticated; too bad the girls aren't here anymore. They love the pseudo-sciences." He laughed again.

Sebastian couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You do know that everyone thinks that you're dead."

"I have got a shit-ton of days off banked," Artie told him, irritated. "Besides, nobody is going to find my body until tomorrow morning at the earliest."

"It's four in the afternoon," Sebastian deadpanned, mildly disgusted.

Abrams squinted, surprised. "Really? Should give someone a call." Then he grinned up at Sebastian. "Actually, if you wanna give your 'friend' a call, that'd be really great. I've got an oral exam to do." Artie pulled himself to his feet (Sebastian suspected that Abrams had given himself a couple of extra inches in height), and stumbled to the elevator.

"Oh believe me, I've got some phone calls to make."

* * *

><p>Blaine's pursuit of Finn and Rachel Hudson led him to Kurt Hummel's home town of Lima, Ohio. They stopped in the driveway of an older house that looked a little run down and the three of them went inside. Blaine drove down to the end of the block and parked where he could keep an eye on the place.<p>

They weren't there very long when Finn and Rachel walked back out and locked the front door. They got back in their vehicle and drove off. Kurt wasn't with them.

So this was a safe house, then.

Blaine crept up to a window, relieved to see that although there was a security system installed, it hadn't been turned on. Deciding that he needed to be as subtle as he could manage with this, he quickly moved to the backyard and found a basement window. Assuming that that was the most likely way for him to enter the house without being discovered, he pulled out a knife and slid it in between the window and the casing. It didn't take long for Blaine to find the latch, and as old as these windows were it wasn't hard to get this one to open.

Blaine assumed that the basement of this house would be undeveloped, and just used for storage. What he found was an immaculately kept bedroom. Not exactly lavish, the cinder block walls were still exposed and painted an ordinary gray. But everything in the room looked like it had been made specifically for this space. Kurt's space. Blaine didn't know how it was that he knew, but he knew that this was Kurt's room.

Maybe it was the fact that laying motionless on Kurt's bed was Kurt Hummel himself.

* * *

><p>Carole Hudson had thought hard the entire way to the KI tower as to how to handle the fact that she suddenly had the access codes to Artie's secret files. It occurred to her that maybe she should do this quietly, but if she got caught sneaking into the lab she knew that it wouldn't help Kurt at all. So she decided to go completely in the opposite direction. Reminding herself that she did own the place (if only seven percent of it), Carole strode right into the lab and demanded to speak with Santana Lopez.<p>

When the shy little tech returned with Santana, the acting head of Research and Development actually seemed amused at the interruption. "What can I do for you, Mrs. Hudson?"

"Actually, I think I have something for you." Carole handed over the list that Kurt had given her.

Santana looked puzzled. "What is it?"

"The access codes to the files you're trying to open."

Santana froze, at a loss for words for the first time since Carole knew her. Then her eyebrows lowered in suspicion. "Thanks. That is assuming you didn't get this from Artie's murderer."

"Absolutely not," Carole assured her.

Santana considered this only briefly before nodding. Sometimes, working with the woman who deflowered Carole's son came in handy. Santana moved to the main computer console and entered in the codes personally.

Not surprisingly, activating the hidden files was as dramatic as the moment warranted. The lower screens showed the routine bits of code and technical jargon that Carole didn't understand and didn't focus on. But the upper screens attracted the attention of everyone in the room as the life size schematics of Artie's avatar program turned back on. Santana muttered something in Spanish that Carole didn't catch, but assumed was an expletive.

Santana moved to one of the other consoles. It must have had a log, because she swore again. "According to this, Artie activated two of these Avatars yesterday. One for K.U.R.T. and one that looked like him."

"So Artie IS alive then?" Carole asked. She'd had Kurt and Finn's suspicions, but this was the first proof they had that Artie hadn't been completely lost. "He's inside one of those Avatars?"

"Apparently. Log says he completely downloaded a copy of himself into that thing." Santana shook her head. "I need to call Blaine."

* * *

><p>Blaine moved closer to the bed, almost entranced by what he was seeing.<p>

He forgot his gun. Forgot that this was the prime suspect in Artie's murder. All he could see was a man he adored, curled up on a bed like a fairytale princess. What Blaine had dreamed about almost exclusively since he'd seen that beautiful face was right in front of him, and nothing else seemed real.

Blaine sat on the side of the bed. Kurt didn't stir; in fact, Blaine couldn't tell if he was actually breathing. Concerned, Blaine reached out a hand to touch Kurt's face. "Kurt?"

Kurt didn't open his eyes, but he smiled. It only made his lips that much more irresistible. Blaine felt his head dip down as his body flooded with only one concern. He needed to taste those lips.

Blaine's phone was ringing, but it could have been hitting him in the back of the head and he wouldn't have noticed it. Because he was kissing Kurt's lips and it was like magic for him.

Kurt moaned in Blaine's mouth as his body came alive underneath Blaine's. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine and deepened the kiss. "Blaine."

It was like coming home. It was all Blaine had ever wanted, and it was SO REAL.

Wasn't it?

Or was this the man that had just killed Artie the night before?

Kurt's body stiffened underneath him, and without looking Blaine knew that Kurt was remembering that too.

Blaine found himself late going for his gun again. A hard shove landed him on the floor and Kurt skittered across the bed with Blaine's gun in his hand. As soon as Kurt was clear of Blaine he dropped the gun to the floor and brought his foot down on top of it.

Blaine didn't know what that was supposed to accomplish but it apparently hadn't worked. Kurt grabbed his foot with a cry of pain and started rubbing it. Kurt sat down heavily on the bed, muttering to himself. "My foot is made out of steel. Why didn't that work?"

Steel?

Blaine's phone was ringing again. "Aren't you going to get that?" Kurt asked, somewhat imperiously.

Since Kurt was making no effort to run (or kill Blaine for that matter), it seemed safe enough to at least look at the call. Santana Lopez. "Santana, what is it? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Well, pull out and make your apologies," Santana told him. "We just got into Artie's files."

"That's your job," Blaine reminded her, deciding to ignore her implications for the time being (or maybe forever). Especially since if she'd called much later, they might have been true. "I've got Artie's killer right in front of me."

Kurt huffed in irritation, but made no other comment. Santana, on the other hand, shocked Blaine to his core when she stated, "Yeah, unless you've got an Artie robot there, I'm guessing you don't."

What?

"Santana, what are you talking about?"

But it wasn't Santana who answered, it was Kurt. "I didn't kill Artie. Artie killed Artie. Or at least, his new body did."

"New body?" Blaine repeated, confused.

"Is that Kurt, there?" Santana asked. Blaine hadn't heard that tone in her voice before; she almost sounded... vulnerable.

Blaine looked at the man he'd been kissing only a moment earlier. It looked like Kurt. Not just the facial features, but the way he carried himself. The look in his eyes. This was his Kurt, wasn't it? "I don't know."

"You seemed pretty sure when you had your tongue down my throat a second ago," Kurt sighed.

Santana snorted, either because of Blaine or she'd made out what Kurt said. "The monkeys have gone over the schematics here, and they don't think he's going to blow up or kill you or anything."

Blaine closed his eyes, and tried desperately to get caught up to a conversation that he wasn't sure he was smart enough to be having. "So before Artie died he was working on a human body for Kurt?"

"That's right," Santana drawled mockingly. "Except as near as we can tell, Artie made himself one, too. And relocated."

"To a-" Blaine's eyes shot open as he finally got it. This wasn't some guy that killed Artie. This was Kurt. Kurt didn't kill Artie. "So wait. Where IS Artie?"

"Flesh part of him is still in the morgue," Santana reminded him, sounding a little mad again. Understandable, given that this wasn't as straightforward as 'Artie wasn't dead'. "As for the rest, we're still working on that."

"So Kurt's in the clear then?"

"We're on the phone with the Chairman of the Board, and I don't mean Sinatra. Hopefully, we'll figure that out soon."

"Can you have her phone me as soon as she decides?"

"Sure thing." It was just as well, Blaine didn't have anything else to ask her, because she hung up.

"So are you not going to shoot me now?" Kurt asked. "I'll give you your gun back if you aren't going to shoot me."

Blaine turned to his partner, the shock finally starting to clear from his head. "That's all you have to say right now?" he asked, annoyed. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

Blaine belatedly remembered that Kurt wouldn't be having that. He never did. "We thought it would be funnier this way?" he quipped, acidly. Kurt snatched the gun off the ground and slammed it into Blaine's hand, a lot harder than was necessary. "I don't know if you've figured this out yet, detective. But this isn't exactly how I was expecting this to go. I should have had a couple months of testing ahead of me, but as usual Artie doesn't have any patience."

Blaine sighed, understanding but not willing to just roll over on this. "Sorry. I'm still catching up here, you know."

Kurt took a couple of deep breaths. "I know. It's the physical response to all these emotions. I"m not really used to them anymore."

Blaine was instantly concerned. "You're sure that's the only reason?" If Kurt's new body was malfunctioning-

"I think so."

"You'll tell me if it's worse? I just got you back, Kurt. I don't want to lose you again. Then the rush of what had happened over the last 24 hours came flooding into Blaine, and he almost passed out. Instead he rushed over to Kurt and hugged him tight. Kurt was here. Kurt was ALIVE. "I really thought I'd never hear your voice again."

Kurt snuggled into Blaine's arms, and Blaine couldn't remember being happier. "I was a little afraid you'd never WANT to hear my voice again. But it's all over now."

"Right. I can't believe that I actually have you right here in my arms," Blaine enthused. "I never thought we could actually be together like this."

Kurt pulled back, uncertain. "Together?"

"Well, yeah," Blaine replied, a little confused. "I mean, I kissed you. And you kissed me back."

Kurt shook his head. "I was in sleep mode," he declared. "I didn't know-"

"You called out my name," Blaine insisted. He was shocked, that after everything they'd been through, that Kurt was suddenly denying it all.

"Oh. Right."

"Kurt, I'm just going to say it: I have feelings for you. I don't know how you feel. Hell, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions that you even CAN feel anything for me. But we've been together for months now, and I flatter myself to think that you feel exactly the same way."

Kurt was having difficulty looking Blaine in the eye. "I- It's not that simple."

"It's a hell of a lot simpler than it was yesterday morning."

"Point taken." Kurt pulled away all together. "Blaine, I don't know what I'm feeling right now. You're literally the first gay man I've ever met. How can I be- How do I know how to feel about you? I need time. Time to figure out what I feel. Time to figure out how I feel."

"I understand," Blaine said. Then it occurred to him what Kurt had just said. "Kurt? Are- Are you a virgin?"

"No," Kurt sniffed in irritation. "Finn was nice enough to nail me on the ride down here."

"I don't mean just this body," Blaine chuckled. "I mean, altogether."

Kurt couldn't look at Blaine at all, now. "Yes."

"So am I."

Kurt whirled around in disbelief. The look on his face almost made Blaine laugh. "You ARE NOT."

"I'm serious." Blaine moved to take Kurt in his arms again. Kurt was still looking at him like he'd suddenly morphed into a mythological creature, and didn't fight it. "And I have met a lot of gay guys. So maybe while you're thinking about how you feel, you could keep in mind that I'm sure about us."

Kurt looked up into Blaine's eyes, and Blaine thought that perhaps, he might have made his point. But then Blaine's damn phone started to ring. At least he thought that it was until he picked it up. Kurt pulled a phone out of his pocket as soon as it became clear Blaine wasn't answering his. Kurt held it up, showing a number Kurt didn't know.

Blaine recognized it though. "I told Santana you were here," Blaine stated. "Dr. Barstow must have wanted to talk to you personally." Blaine didn't add that he thought that was an extremely bad sign.

Kurt picked up the phone. He paused, like he wasn't sure how to answer it, but decided on "Dr. Barstow?" He frowned, and Blaine's heart sank. "I thought Santana confirmed the avatars aren't malfunctioning. ...No. …No, I suppose that is a sensible precaution." Kurt nodded into the phone, clearly upset but trying to be polite about it. "Thank you. I guess we'll see you then." The only verbal sign of Kurt's displeasure was that he didn't say goodbye before he hung up the phone.

"What did she say?" Blaine asked, skipping the question of if this was bad news. Because, obviously.

"She said to head back tomorrow," Kurt relayed. "She wants Artie's techs to go over my body before I can use it again, and it's too late to do it today."

"Santana said you were fine," Blaine objected.

"Theoretically fine," Kurt corrected. Blaine wasn't sure if Kurt had overheard Santana speaking, or if Artie had literally wired Kurt into Blaine's phone. Not that it mattered. "Dr. Barstow said I need to go back to my vehicle mode until they can go over my systems in person."

"But that's not fair."

Kurt laid two gentle fingers on Blaine's lips. "It'll be okay. I told you, I wasn't planning on this being permanent for a couple more months. This is... more than fair."

Blaine nodded; he hated it, but Dr. Barstow couldn't have done anything else. "And what about us?"

"Well, at least I'll have some time to think," Kurt joked weakly.

Blaine took Kurt in his arms again. "I don't remember. Did we have bucket lists back when you were first alive?"

"Yes," Kurt told him, bemused. "I actually had one."

"And Dr. Barstow said we didn't need to be back until tomorrow?" At Kurt's nod, Blaine smiled. "So we have an entire evening to do whatever you want. Anything, I'm buying."

Kurt's eyes widened, and he was silent for a long time. "Anything?" Blaine nodded, and Kurt kissed him again. "I want- I want you to be my first. I might never get a chance to do this again. Please, Blaine.

"Make love to me."

(to be continued)


	7. Chapter 7

I want to thank everyone again for their reviews and alerts. I appreciate all the interest.

Warning: a lot happens in this chapter. I was planning on things going at a slower pace, but it was just more believable for it to all happen at once. And not to give anything away, but the last scene might be triggering for some people. I don't even know what type of trigger warning to give you. Just be careful.

* * *

><p>Chapter Seven<p>

Kurt didn't know what he was thinking. He'd never been so blunt before, and immediately decided to blame it on the new body (he'd been doing a lot of that lately). The only upshot was that Blaine didn't seem shocked, or worse horrified. If he had, Kurt was pretty sure that he'd turn right around and take off again. But Blaine had a gentle smile on his face, and that made Kurt think that just maybe he might be losing his virginity tonight.

Which was why it was such a shock when Blaine shook his head. "Kurt, I would be lying if I told you I didn't want you. Desperately. But I'm not going to have sex with you tonight."

"What? Why? Is it my outfit?" Damn you Artie, for your horrible taste in Avatar clothing.

Blaine laughed. "Kurt, did you hear what you just said? You want to be with me because you don't think you'll get another chance."

Now Kurt did remember saying that. And despite his calm, secure exterior he couldn't help but feel like once he surrendered his avatar he might never get it back. "There's no guarantee I will."

Blaine took Kurt in his arms and kissed him. It felt a little odd jumping straight from being 'pals' to basically a relationship without talking about it, but Kurt wasn't complaining. "There is now. Kurt Hummel, my not sleeping with you tonight is my promise. That no matter what I have to do, you're going to have a lifetime to do whatever – and whomever – you want," he added with another smile. "I wouldn't be turning this down if I wasn't that sure."

Kurt lowered his head onto Blaine's shoulder. Well, if Blaine could be that sure, then so could Kurt. "Okay."

"So what else do you want to do tonight?" Blaine asked.

Kurt frowned. There was one other thing, but... "There was something, but it's not exactly fun."

Blaine pulled back just enough to look at Kurt. "What is it?"

"I haven't seen- my dad since the accident," Kurt stated. "I'd like to... pay my respects." Which was certainly something he couldn't do in vehicle mode. And Kurt didn't really want to wait until Blaine's guaranteed future.

Blaine's face lost its smile, but he nodded. "Okay. If that's what you want to do, then that's what we'll do."

* * *

><p>It took a little longer to find the graves in the winter. Not that there was that much snow, but it looked totally different from the last time Kurt had been there. They might have had to walk through the cemetery one row at a time, but there was a stone angel just at the head of his mother's marker and that led them to the right spot.<p>

Blaine had managed to find a store that was still open where they could get two bouquets of flowers. Tulips for her, roses for him. Kurt put the first bouquet down on the cold ground, and brushed the snow off her marker. "Hi, momma. It's me. This..." Kurt gestured back to Blaine. "This is Blaine Anderson."

Blaine nodded at the grave stone, as politely as if he'd been at a cocktail party. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Hummel."

Kurt gave Blaine a grateful smile before turning back to his mother's grave. "I'm sorry it's been so long since I've been here. I know it probably doesn't matter one way or the other, but if there's any chance there's any part of you that can still hear me, I'm sorry. I'll have to come back again and give you a complete run down of what's been happening, but for right now I need to say goodbye to dad."

There was no response, but then Kurt had enough on his plate without something like that happening.

Kurt turned to the other stone and brushed the snow away. Seeing 'Burt Hummel, loving husband and father' in print like that hurt. So much that he thought if he'd been in his old body it might have killed him. He couldn't move at first, and it took forever to finally put the roses on his father's grave.

"Hi dad. I wish I could have made it to the funeral. But I guess you know I was kind of dead for that, too. I thought I'd miss you less as time went on, but the longer it's been since I've seen you just makes me miss you more.

"I want to thank you for making the effort to be closer to me, those last few years. I know that I didn't always make it easy on you, but I always appreciated it. I know you loved me, and I know you knew I love you; I don't think I could go on if I wasn't sure of that.

Kurt felt his eyes filling with tears. "It's going to be a lot lonelier without you here. For so long, it was just the two of us and I kind of got used to it. But I want you to know that I'm going to be okay. I'm back now, and I have friends and Blaine looking out for me. So don't worry about me.

Kurt looked heavenward, wishing that for once in one of his lives he could just believe. "I want to see you again, so badly. I wish... Maybe someday, something will convince me that there's a chance you could still be out there. And that I'll see you and mom again. Until then...

"Goodbye, dad. I love you."

It seemed like it took forever to pull himself together. Eventually though, Kurt was able to dry his eyes (hadn't run out of tears that time, good) and was ready to go. But when he looked up, he was surprised to find Blaine staring down at another marker, looking shocked and horrified. "What is it?" Kurt asked.

"Look."

Kurt moved to stand behind Blaine, and if his breath could catch it would have.

Because the grave stone Blaine was looking at was Kurt's.

"Oh my." The most miraculous thing about Kurt's avatar mode was the fact that he always felt like he was inside his own body. Although he never forgot that he'd lived and died, Kurt wasn't always conscious of the fact that his original body was here, in the ground.

Dead. It seemed unavoidable now.

"What am I, Blaine?" It had never seemed to be an important question before. Now it was all he could think about.

Blaine shook of his stupor and hugged Kurt. Apparently, Blaine had been thinking about this for a while, because he didn't hesitate when he said, "You know when someone is in a bad accident, and they have to get a limb amputated? I think that's what this is, how we should look at it."

"So I'm not a machine," Kurt replied with the tiniest of smirks. "I just fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act?"

"Why not? Kurt, I don't know anything about souls or what happens when we die. But I just saw you say goodbye to your dad. And no one can tell me that that wasn't your dad; it wouldn't have hurt so much if it wasn't. So that means you must be Kurt Hummel. Simple as that."

Kurt let his head rest on Blaine's shoulder again, and tried to let go of another bit of the hell he'd been through.

If Blaine was sure, why couldn't he be sure?

* * *

><p>They decided to retrieve Kurt's vehicle mode before going out to tour all of Blaine's favourite spots (now that Kurt could see more than just the parking lot of said spots). But as was usual for Kurt, every time he made plans, something came along to change them. In this particular instance, when they got to the lab Santana was there going over some reports. And they could tell by the look on her face when she saw them that she had something for them.<p>

Blaine sighed. "Santana, we were promised one last night together," he told her, not caring how intimate that sounded. "I'm not spending it working."

Santana lifted her hands, in far too innocent looking surrender. "That's not a problem. Actually, I was just wondering – since you were here - if you two were interested in going for a drink with me."

"Where?" Kurt asked.

"Hotel bar not far from here," she told him.

Well, that was damn odd, Blaine thought. "Doesn't sound like your type of place," he stated aloud.

Santana shrugged. "Thought we could maybe meet an old friend there, while we were at it."

Blaine smiled at her; he wasn't the head of security at Knight Industries for nothing. Of Santana's old friends, Blaine could only think of a single one that she'd be so coy about mentioning. "This old friend wouldn't happen to have our missing avatar, would he."

Kurt jumped, startled. Apparently, he hadn't figured things out as quickly as Blaine had. "You found Artie?"

"It wasn't hard once we actually got around to looking for him," Santana told him. She handed Blaine the stack of papers she was looking at. "Credit card receipts. The cops handed them over after I told them what was going on and told them we didn't need their assistance anymore."

"They must have LOVED that," Blaine chuckled.

"They'll get over it," Santana assured him. "So you wanna check this place out?"

Blaine turned to Kurt. "It's your night," he reminded.

Kurt shrugged, but Blaine could see he was feeling anything but casual. "Why not? I've got some things I need to say to our 'old friend'."

* * *

><p>Blaine COULD have said that he was irritated that the van parked at the entrance was parked illegally. But to be honest, the only reason why it bothered him was the fact that now he couldn't do the same thing. Still, it's not like a few moments would make much of a difference. The job was simple now; just go in and haul Artie's possibly drunk avatar back to the lab and they were done.<p>

Minus a few choice words they all had for him.

"This isn't where I would have headed my first night of freedom," Kurt noted as he looked up at the drab building.

"It's within walking distance," Blaine noted. He'd have suggested a walk himself, if it weren't for the fact that they were probably going to be carrying Artie back.

Santana crossed the lot from where she'd parked and knocked on the window. "You wanna find yourself a space tonight? Or are you considering a room for the night?"

Blaine blushed. "I was just wishing someone hadn't beaten me to the no parking in front of the door."

"Well, you two are just going to have to carry him a little further," Santana told him.

Blaine had a come back to that (he really did!), but before Blaine could say anything Kurt gasped and jumped out of the car. "Artie?"

Blaine had nudged Santana aside and was out of the car in an instant. Artie was slung over the shoulder of some guy, apparently unconscious. Blaine drew his gun and hurried around the front of Kurt's vehicle mode to intercept them. "Hold it right there," he demanded.

The man turned to look at him. Just enough so that Blaine could see who it was.

Blaine froze, though he knew full well it might be his last mistake.

Because Sebastian was helping the guy kidnap Artie.

And Sebastian had a gun.

But Sebastian seemed frozen, too. It was the other guy that pulled out a weapon and open fire on Blaine.

"Blaine, get down!" Kurt shouted as he tackled Blaine. The bullets whizzed over their heads, bouncing off the reinforced exterior of Kurt's vehicle mode.

Santana pulled out a gun that Blaine didn't know she even had, and returned fire. The kidnappers, no doubt knowing how stupid it was to get drawn into a firefight, tossed Artie's avatar in the van and took off.

Blaine and Kurt both jumped to their feet and scrambled for the car. There was a brief moment of confusion as they realized simultaneously that there was three of them and only two seats in Kurt's vehicle mode. Santana rolled her eyes at them. "I'll stay here and call the police. Go!"

They did as asked (well, ordered), but Kurt was already looking reluctant. "You do know if we catch up to them, there's not much we can do to stop them from taking Artie."

"I know." But Blaine didn't know what else to do. He couldn't just do nothing.

The drove, and stewed, in silence for several minutes. Kurt suddenly sat up straighter. "I think I have an idea. Turn left here."

Blaine did as asked, following Kurt's instructions until he was sure they'd lost their quarry. "Kurt, where are we going?"

Kurt's eyes rolled back as his eyes closed, and a second later his image appeared on his dashboard display. "I have an idea," Kurt repeated. "And if I can pull it off, they're going to be really pissed. I don't want to be anywhere near where they are."

"But what about Artie?"

Kurt didn't answer, just closed his eyes on screen as well. Concentrating, though Blaine had no clue on what. Just when Blaine was considering turning around and trying to track the van back down, Kurt opened his eyes again. "I think... YES! I've got him."

The screen went blank again, and Kurt's avatar opened his eyes again. Blaine couldn't figure out what Kurt had done, or why he was so pleased with himself.

Unless...

Blaine flicked the switch under the monitor, the same one he'd used the day before to try and get Kurt's image to appear. It worked this time, but it wasn't Kurt's face that appeared. "Artie? Am I glad to see you."

Artie's face, already frowning, darkened further still. "You'll excuse me if I say the feeling ISN'T mutual. I seriously hate you both."

* * *

><p>Sebastian made an odd picture in the driver's seat of the semi, stewing with irritation after ditching the van and stowing both Artie Abrams' damn robot and the one they'd built in the back. "What the hell was that?" Sebastian asked.<p>

The voice that came from the speaker built into the dash chuckled. "The beginning of phase 2, of course. Revenge."

"Of course," Sebastian sneered back. "Look, I get that you've got a problem with Knight Industries. And you're probably right to be pissed at them, they did hang you out to dry. But Artie and Blaine weren't even born when that happened. Why the hell are you trying to hurt them?"

"They reaped the benefits that came from me. Now it's time to pay the piper."

"No," Sebastian declared. "I'm not going to let you hurt Blaine. Hell, KURT seems like a nice guy. I don't want you going after them."

"I disagree."

"Well, the people who are actually people are the only ones getting to vote on this one." Sebastian went to unbuckle his seat belt, but it didn't work. Apparently the belts were computer controlled, too. He rolled his eyes. "Cute. Let me go."

If anything though, it felt like the seat belt got tighter. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Sebastian."

"Cut it out!" Sebastian snapped. The belt tightened to the point where it was starting to hurt. What the hell was going on?

"I'm really sorry about this, Sebastian. I do like you. But now that we've built my avatar, I no longer need you for mundane things like fill ups and oil changes. If you aren't in this for revenge, then I have no use for you."

"K- Karr, please." It was getting hard to breathe. Sebastian frantically pulled out his cell phone. Blaine would help him. He'd hear Sebastian out, no matter what had just happened.

"I'm afraid your phone doesn't have any bars right now," Karr told him.

Sharp pain, and Sebastian could hear his ribs starting to crack. He switched to text messaging. If he could just get one through.

Send failed. Retry?

Sebastian screamed as his ribs gave way. Then there was just blackness.

(to be continued)

You know, I'm actually sad that I killed Sebastian. I liked this version I'd made of him, and considered sparing him. But this ending just freaked me out too much to NOT write it. What does everyone else think?


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter up. RL teamed up with internet interruptions and left me with little time or inclination to write. But I think this chapter more than makes up for it. Hopefully you don't mind the cliffhanger too much. I'll try to put the next chapter up with greater speed.

I also hope that nobody minds Dr. Barstow being in yet another chapter. I only planned on including her in the boardroom scene as an homage to the original Knight Rider series, but she's kind of stuck around. I'm making sure she doesn't take over the story, though.

Thanks again for every great review, alert, and favourite. They make writing this story worthwhile.

* * *

><p>Chapter Eight<p>

Blaine brought Kurt back to his place after a night of checking out Blaine's favourite spots. It had been amazing, and Kurt felt a little light-headed at what he was feeling. Even knowing that they'd deposited Artie back at the lab (and locked him out of the controls for Kurt's vehicle mode so he'd stay there) didn't temper the utter exhilaration of finally being able to go and do as he pleased. Neither did the knowledge that this might be for one night only stop Kurt from feeling like his future had hope, for the first time in just about ever.

Unfortunately, while Kurt had time and energy to spare, Blaine was at the end of his reserves. And when Blaine nodded off during Kurt's rousing rendition of 'Some People', Kurt decided that it was time to call it an evening.

"I'm really sorry about this, Kurt," Blaine sighed, not for the first time.

"It's fine," Kurt insisted. "And like you told me, it's not like this is my last night on Earth, is it?"

"True." Blaine blushed a little. "I think I'm just a little embarrassed that I'm already fading, and you're still going strong."

Kurt laughed, and dared a kiss. He still wasn't sure it was a good idea to get involved with the first gay guy he'd ever met. But he was trusting Blaine on this one. "Well, get used to it. Because hopefully this is the first of many nights during which I'll be outlasting you."

"I like the sound of that," Blaine chuckled. But his laugh became a yawn in the middle of it. "I'm going to turn in. Are you... What are you planning on doing tonight?"

"Thought I'd call a few people, have a raver." Kurt laughed. "I won't need to plug in before tomorrow, so I don't really know."

Blaine blushed again. "Kurt, would you... I wouldn't mind having someone to cuddle with tonight."

Kurt's eyes widened. "Just cuddling?" Not that he was opposed to more.

"We're saving the 'more' for after KI clears your avatar mode for use, remember?" Blaine replied. "I just want to be close to you. If that's okay with you."

Kurt smiled warmly as he stripped down to t-shirt and shorts. "It's more than okay."

* * *

><p>Despite how hopeful Kurt was the night before, when Blaine woke up the next morning it was like Kurt felt he was headed to the gallows. He didn't say anything about it, but whenever Blaine asked Kurt a question, Kurt had to think about it. Like it was his last chance, so he'd better make sure it was a good answer. Blaine hated it, but he didn't know how to fix it.<p>

They drove down to the KI tower in Blaine's old car. In silence. Maybe Blaine was feeling the same thing Kurt was. Blaine kept repeating to himself that it wasn't the same as the last time. Artie had (somewhat to Kurt's surprise) come up with at least one back up in the form of two lab-based computer systems like in Kurt's vehicle mode. So at least Kurt wouldn't be a prisoner.

Remembering that almost helped.

When they got to the lab, the silence was replaced with din. Artie was on each of the upper monitors, having what sounded like quite the fight with Dr. Barstow. "According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, you cannot fire me for inconsequentials like-"

"Hey, we're here," Blaine interrupted. "What's going on?"

Dr. Barstow lost complete focus on Artie the moment she saw that they'd entered the room. Or rather that Kurt had entered the room. She spared a smile for Blaine, but she'd turned her attention to Kurt. "I can't tell you how good it is to finally see you. I always hoped some day we'd be able to fulfill Michael's dying request-"

"And yet you're going to keep us prisoner in the lab like pieces of your property," Artie complained acidly. Dr. Barstow rolled her eyes.

Kurt turned between the two of them, confused. "I don't understand."

"Well, it should only take a few hours to get your... you called them avatars?" she asked Artie. At his grudging nod, she turned back to Kurt. "I've got everyone working on clearing your avatar for use, even me. I used to have quite a knack for artificial intelligence systems. What we're not sure of is what to do with you afterwards."

"I've explained that we should be treated like the people we were," Artie told Kurt.

"We or just you?" Kurt quipped with a tight smirk. Blaine couldn't blame him for his pessimism.

Neither could a suddenly uncomfortable Artie, apparently. "Well, everything that applies to me should theoretically apply to you."

"Unfortunately if we proceed as Artie suggests, that means the two of you are each on the hook for six million dollars worth of Knight Industries equipment," Barstow informed them.

"Six million dollars!" Blaine repeated, shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. They couldn't have gone this far, only to have Kurt literally be unable to afford his new life.

"Six million is projected sale value, not cost," Artie declared. "Which is why we need to stop all this foolishness and get MY avatar BACK."

"Dr. Barstow, is there any way we can keep things status quo until the board decides how to handle this?" Blaine asked. "Artie's right in that we've got a lot of security details to handle right now, and I don't know if I can do them without Kurt."

Dr. Barstow was clearly conflicted on that, but she nodded nonetheless. "That does seem like the most logical solution. But that means our first step is to open up the Kurt avatar and make sure it's performing the way the schematics say it should."

Kurt swallowed hard enough that Blaine could see it, but he nodded as well. Blaine walked with him as he lay down on one of the lab tables, and held Kurt's hand. But Kurt gently removed his hand from Blaine's. "Can you meet me down at my vehicle mode? I don't want you to see me like this."

"I've already seen you like this," Blaine reminded him, desperate not to go. "In the car when we got Artie back."

"It's not the same," Kurt insisted. "There I was able to keep certain autonomic systems running, like temperature. Even when I was in sleep mode, it wasn't like this. I need you to not be here when we shut everything off. Please."

Blaine hated the thought of leaving Kurt, but knew that it would probably be embarrassing if he stayed. He grabbed Kurt's hand again, but nodded. "Okay. I'll see you in a few minutes."

And then he turned around, not trying to identify the sounds that he heard behind him. He closed the door to the lab and started to sprint for the stairwell. Right now, all he wanted was a few minutes alone to cry his eyes out before Kurt joined him. But Santana stopped him.

Santana, who looked uncharacteristically sympathetic.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Look, I sent the cops the picture you e-mailed me of that Sebastian guy," she told him. "Turns out they already knew where he was."

Blaine's eyes widened. Although he wasn't sure what he wanted to say to his 'friend' right now, there was plenty that he wanted to discuss in his official capacity. "They've already arrested him?"

Santana's mouth tightened. "No. They found him in an alley. Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the guy's dead."

* * *

><p>"I REALLY don't like this," Kurt exclaimed from his miniscule screen on Blaine's watch. Blaine and Santana had driven over to the morgue as soon as they'd cleared it with the officers in charge. They were going to meet with some crime scene investigators and Blaine was to identify the body. "Surely this can wait a few hours until I've got my body back and can be there for Blaine- I mean, the two of you."<p>

"We all know what you meant," Santana told him with a rather inappropriate smirk.

"Santana this isn't funny," Kurt snapped. "This was already hard on Blaine, even before we knew what happened to Sebastian." Santana's response was to tug on Blaine's sleeve hard enough to pull it over Kurt's face. "I can still see you."

Blaine knew for a fact that Kurt couldn't, and pulled back his sleeve. "Kurt, thanks for the offer but really, a couple more hours isn't going to change things. And I'm just going to be thinking about it the whole time we wait. I can do this."

"I just don't want you to have to do this alone," Kurt sighed. "You can't even hug my steering wheel up there," he complained.

Santana laughed, and even Blaine cracked a smile. "I seriously don't want to know about the kinky things you get up to."

"Somehow, I don't believe you," Kurt stated coolly.

But then they'd come to the morgue door, and the chilled air seeping out from it robbed them of their conversation and good cheer. Blaine braced himself, and then opened the door to let Santana in.

Sebastian's body was already out of the little drawer they were storing it, and a lab tech was examining it. It was the first time Blaine had ever needed to come to the morgue, for his job or in real life. And now it was for someone who'd been a good friend, and had died an enemy. Blaine had to step back, and swallow the bile rising in his throat.

"It's him." Blaine's voice rang out in the silence, and the finality of saying it almost did Blaine in. He turned his back so Santana and the Tech couldn't see the tears falling.

"It's okay," the Tech told him kindly. "You don't have to feel ashamed that this affects you. I'm assuming you knew the victim?"

"He's hardly a victim," Santana scoffed. "He's responsible for a kidnapping, and a buttload of thefts."

Blaine wanted to yell at her (and he could hear Kurt bristle angrily), but the Tech quietly beat them to it. "With all due respect, miss. Whatever else the guy did, he is a victim of homocide."

"You're sure?" Blaine asked as he turned to face Sebastian's... corpse, again. It was so pale, even paler than Kurt. And so still. Blaine never remembered seeing Sebastian's face this immobile before.

"I don't know exactly how they did it, but this doesn't look accidental. Here." The Tech gestured to a dark mark running diagonally from Sebastian's left shoulder to his waist.

"It looks like a seat belt," Santana noted, puzzled.

"It does," the Tech replied. "Although I'm not sure how you could do this kind of damage with one."

"Can I see it?" Kurt's voice was filled with worry, and it caught the Tech by surprise.

Blaine's head was already muddled dealing with the knowledge that Sebastian was dead, and wasn't sure what to say. But fortunately, Santana did. "A colleague we needed to stay at the lab. Blaine, angle your wrist so that Mr Hummel can see it."

The Tech relaxed, though he still seemed confused. Blaine did as suggested, and Kurt gasped. "I- That is, I think I know something that could do that. The seatbelts on the K.U.R.T. vehicle mode are fully computer controlled. If someone shut of the buckle controls and retracted the belt, it might do something like this."

Santana shook her head. "Fortunately, it's got an alibi. That car was in the lab last night, and for once the security wasn't screwed sideway. What about his stuff? I'm assuming you didn't just find him naked like this."

The tech looked like he wanted to say something else, but he nodded and brought over some things. "Actually, that was one of the reasons we wanted Mr Anderson here. The victim's cell phone was smashed, but it's still working. And as near as we can tell there's an unsent message to Mr Anderson on it."

"Well, send it then," Santana ordered.

The Tech bristled (understandably) at Santana's command, but pressed the button through the plastic baggie it was in. Seconds later, Blaine's phone beeped, indicating a message.

Blaine froze. The last message he'd ever get from Sebastian, and he wasn't sure he wanted to read it. But he'd promised himself he'd be brave, and so he flipped his phone open and checked the text. It made him a little angry, and a little sad. But mostly he was confused. "He says he's sorry. He didn't want to hurt me. But 'Karr' did, and he wasn't letting Sebastian stop him."

"Karr?" Santana asked, a thought-filled look on her face. "That sounds familiar for some reason."

"Not to me," Blaine admitted.

"Blaine, I'm set up to interface with your phone," Kurt told him. He seemed nervous for some inexplicable reason. "If I may?"

Blaine nodded at Kurt's screen. "Do what you have to do."

Kurt was silent for a moment. Then his mouth opened in horror. "Oh my god. Not Karr. It's K.A.R.R. Knight Automated Roving Robot."

"Shit," Santana exclaimed, suddenly just as shocked. "I thought that thing was destroyed."

"And what was it that Sebastian was stealling?" Kurt reminded her. "Avatar parts and- hold on a second... Yeah, I've got a log here stating that someone accessed the schematic files while he was there following the break-in. Must have brought up the speedtrap cameras to keep me distracted."

Blaine was completely lost. "What are you two talking about."

Kurt looked at Blaine, his face more fearful than Blaine had ever before seen it. "It was a story Mr. Knight told me when I was little, about when he and HIS car encountered the prototype for the Knight Industries vehicles. It was damaged several times, and every time it came together again it changed. Grew darker. Until it was a being of unimaginable evil.

"And they called that vehicle, Karr."

Blaine was speechless. The Tech, seeing the gap in the conversation, interrupted. "I don't know anything about your company's history, but I can tell you for sure that no car did this damage."

Blaine turned to him, puzzled. "No? You just said it was a seatbelt that did this."

"Apparently. But it wasn't a car seatbelt." The tech gestured to the body. "From the length and angle of these marks, if it was a seatbelt it was off of something bigger. A semi, maybe."

"A semi," Kurt repeated with a wince. And Blaine was all too aware of how Kurt fared the LAST time he'd encountered a semi. "Well, that's just great."

* * *

><p>"You're out of your mind!" Blaine snapped, angrier than he'd ever been. "Not just locationally, you have actually gone insane!"<p>

Kurt couldn't really disagree. "Artie, you do remember that we aren't actually a police force. We can't just go into Karr's headquarters and arrest him."

They'd gone back to the lab to confer with Dr Barstow, and she'd agreed completely that Kurt's hypothesis was probably correct. She'd finished up checking Kurt's avatar out and then finally gotten a lock on where the other avatar had been taken. They'd picked up it's locator card, and nothing was stopping them from sending the police to pick it up.

Nothing but Artie that is. "I know it's risky but I don't want anyone, even law enforcement, getting their hands on one of our avatars. You HAVE to be the one to go get it."

"I agree with Blaine," Santana noted. "I think Artie's nuts."

Dr. Barstow sighed. "I don't think it's a good idea for Blaine to go in there by himself. But I think we do need a presence when the police move in. Showing the flag, so to say."

Well, that seemed like a somewhat less than suicidal compromise. "Is Kurt's avatar ready yet?" Blaine asked.

"I'm afraid not," Barstow admitted. "Most of its primary systems check out, but we're having a problem with its power cells. They won't hold a recharge, so we're going to have to replace them."

"So Blaine is going to have to go in alone?" Kurt asked, worried. "And if they tried to recharge the Artie avatar while they've had it, it won't be of any use to him either."

"Blaine isn't going in at all," she replied firmly. "He's there to retrieve KI property when deemed safe. He'll be acting as our liason with the police as necessary. But he's absolutely NOT authorized to go riding in like some kind of vigilante. The police are already annoyed with us."

"That sounds fair," Blaine told her. Kurt and Artie were conspicuously silent, though of course for different reasons.

* * *

><p>By the time Blaine and Kurt arrived at the warehouse Sebastian had appropriated for Karr, the police were already there doing the whole 'come out with your hands up' thing. Two police cars blocked the entrance so Kurt parked his vehicle mode just outside the cordon. Blaine got out to speak to one of the cops, but Kurt couldn't hear what they were saying. Or maybe Kurt just wasn't listening.<p>

This whole situation sucked. From not having his avatar owing to a recharge he hadn't even needed at that point, to the fact that their mortal enemy was the same kind of vehicle that had killed him. Frankly, he didn't want to be there and if it weren't for the fact that Blaine would have gone either way, Kurt wouldn't have gone.

Blaine came back and sat down with a soft grunt. "Well, so far there's no sign of life inside. They want to wait until the swat team gets here before they go in."

Kurt had already anticipated this posibility. "Blaine, if Karr has an avatar he might not be able recharge it, either. There might not be anyone in there to 'put their hands up'."

Blaine nodded. "It's possible. I'd better let the police know that. Even if he's still operational, they might be able to use that as a lure to get him-"

Blaine was interrupted by a loud crash. They both focused their attention on the front doors of the warehouse, which had just been shattered by the semi that had just plowed through it.

And then, without warning it wasn't the present anymore. Kurt was in the past.

The day he died.

And he was terrified.

He heard shouting, and couldn't quite place the voice. It wasn't his dad.

It wasn't the name that he ended up recalling first. It was a smile.

Blaine.

Kurt came back to his senses just in time to see Karr's vehicle mode charging the police car barricade. Only a second had passed, not that long. But they were right behind the police cars.

And Kurt had vehicle control.

"Kurt, what are you doing?" Blaine asked, worried and frightened.

Kurt hit reverse as fast as he could, squealling backwards just seconds before Karr plowed through the blockade. The cars and a couple of police officers went flying. Kurt activated his medical scanner (which thankfully he'd never had to use before), and saw that they weren't badly hurt.

"Sorry, lost my head for a minute," Kurt told Blaine. "I'm okay, now. So are the cops."

Blaine exhaled about half of his anxiety. "You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go."

Kurt floored it, not needing much time to catch up to the runaway big rig. And now that they were behind him they could clearly see the battered California licence plate reading KARR.

Kurt concentrated on that. Reminding himself that it was that old enemy, and not the other one.

It almost helped. "What are we doing? Dr. Barstow said we weren't supposed to engage."

"You want to tell Artie that he got away with Artie's avatar again?" Blaine asked.

"Point taken. But what are WE supposed to do about it?"

"Pull up a little closer," Blaine suggested. "And then open the moon roof."

Kurt realized in short order exactly what Blaine was planning. He promised himself he was going to look up Mercedes later, while he channelled his old friend. "Oh, HELL to the no!"

"Kurt, it 's fine," Blaine insisted. "I've done this before."

"You've jumped from a robot car to an evil robot truck to save another, deactivated robot?" Kurt deadpanned, unconvinced. "Try again."

"Well, not this exact thing," Blaine admitted. "But this won't be the first time I've been on the hood of a moving vehicle." In response to Kurt's 'bitch, please' glare though, Blaine just smiled sadly. "Sebastian."

Well that explained a lot. Not that Kurt was going to go for it. "I've got a better idea. Take the wheel."

Blaine was clearly confused, but did as asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Get into Artie's avatar and see if I can't bring it to us," Kurt stated, as if that was the simplest thing ever. "If I fall, I just need to come back here and come up with a good explanation as to why I ran over Artie's avatar."

Kurt was gone before Blaine could object.

It felt weird being in Artie's body. The sheer wrongness of it alone was disorienting, and that was before you factored in the fact that they had indeed tried to recharge him. Kurt suspected that he only had a few minutes before the avatar powered down completely.

And unless Artie had grown since high school P.E., Kurt was fairly certain Artie had given himself a couple inches of 'enhancements' (thankfully Kurt was pretty much the same size as he'd remembered).

Karr had put the stolen avatar in the tractor trailer he was hauling, which seemed like a tactical mistake to Kurt. One Kurt planned on taking full advantage of. Having already figured out that he had enough strength to punch through steel but that his skin was just too delicate to keep up, he didn't try to force open the doors. Instead he started kicking the wall of the trailer with his shoes. It stung, but the tin gave way pretty easily.

Unfortunately, when the panel blew off the trailer, it alerted Karr to the fact that Artie's stolen avatar was making a getaway.

Karr started swerving to try and force Kurt in Artie's body to fall, but Blaine bravely drove up alongside and opened the moon roof. The avatar landed safely in the passenger's seat seconds before the power cell died, and Kurt transferred back to his vehicle mode. Intending to slam on the brakes and get them the hell out of there.

He switched over a second too late.

Karr slammed his full weight into Kurt's vehicle mode. The significantly lighter car ran off the road and was suddenly airborne. Kurt's vehicle mode dropped thirty feet to the floor of the ravine it had plummeted into, and vanished into the trees.

(to be continued)


	9. Chapter 9

So here's the next chapter, much quicker than the old one. I had to kind of scramble to get this chapter done, as I decided at the last minute that last chapter was too soon for Kurt to have his avatar so I had to completely rewrite the next few chapters. It's interesting though, because now we're starting to get into what happened with Karr between the original series and now. Plus I now have an opportunity to use a character I created months ago but had no story for.

Again, thanks for the interest that everyone has shown in this story.

* * *

><p>Chapter Nine<p>

"Blaine. Blaine!"

Blaine could hear a worried Kurt calling out to him, but he was too focused on remaining conscious to be able to respond. He ached everywhere, and honestly he was a little afraid to open his eyes and take in what was left of Kurt's vehicle mode.

"Blaine, my medical scanner says that you're not badly hurt and that you're awake," Kurt told him, sounding a little put out now. "Open your damn eyes and talk to me."

Blaine could hardly refuse an order like that. He opened his eyes and looked around. They were on the floor of a ravine, but they were upright and Kurt didn't seem to be screaming in pain so the interior of the car must have been as intact as it looked. "You're right, I'm okay. What about you?"

Kurt grimaced. But it seemed to be from irritation rather than pain, so that was a plus. "Superstructure seems to be okay, for the most part. I'm going to need new wheels, and probably a new front axle before we can get underway." Kurt looked up, both with his eyes and on screen, taking in the drop they'd just had. "And I'm either going to need a tow or a propeller to get out of this ditch."

Blaine smiled at the little joke as he pulled out his phone. Presumably the tree branches had done a little to break their fall. Blaine was relieved to know that they hadn't had a worse time of it. But it seemed as though that was the end of their luck, as his phone didn't have any service right now. "I don't suppose you can get through to the lab."

Kurt sighed. "No. I didn't think there even WAS a place on the East coast that was out of satellite range."

Blaine sighed too. "I guess I'll just have to climb out and call from the top of the cliff."

"That could be dangerous," Kurt worried.

"Maybe," Blaine admitted cheekily. "But unfortunately when Artie was piling on options, we decided I'd need air conditioning more than air travel." Blaine opened the door, relieved to see that it still worked and didn't look all that banged up. He was about to exit the car when Kurt's upset voice stopped him.

"I'm sorry, Blaine. I'm not much good to you like this."

Blaine turned back to Kurt's distressed image. "Kurt, we were just in an accident. You're hurt. You haven't let me down in some way. Just stay here and let me take care of you."

Kurt clearly wasn't satisfied with that, so Blaine decided he'd better make things as fast as possible. Getting out of the car, he shook his limbs to make sure they were working the way they were supposed to (they were). Then he turned to the wall of the ravine and selected what he thought was probably the best way out.

Blaine was getting filthy, but his progress didn't seem all that difficult or dangerous. Within a few minutes he was scrambling up onto the side of the road and his phone started ringing, sounding almost frantic.

Blaine checked his caller ID. It was Artie, who had apparently learned Kurt's trick of calling a phone. "Artie? It's Blaine. Kurt and I need some help."

* * *

><p>Kurt opened his eyes, relieved to finally be back in his avatar body, and saw Artie standing over him. "So I'm assuming you're fully functional, then?" Kurt asked dryly.<p>

"Thanks to you," Artie told him. "So I've decided not to be mad that you decided to take my avatar for a test run."

"How gracious of you," Kurt murmured as he sat up. Blaine was sitting nearby in a chair looking nervous, but he looked up when he saw Kurt.

"You're back," Blaine exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Avatar's fine," Kurt stated. "How long do they think it'll take to repair my vehicle mode?"

Artie answered him. "It's just mechanical problems. A couple of hours, tops."

"What about Karr?" Blaine asked. "Have you heard anything more about it?"

"No," Artie grumbled. "Apparently no one on the police force has any idea how they managed to lose a vehicle weighing several tons."

"And I'm sure they didn't appreciate being asked, either," Kurt quipped. Because he was pretty sure that was exactly how Artie had phrased it when he spoke to them.

"They'll get over it," came Santana's voice from the door. She strode in with a bemused look on her face. "Good, you're all back to who you're supposed to be. I've got something Artie needs to take care of, and you two are welcome to come watch the fireworks."

"What's going on?" Blaine asked.

"Artie's funeral," Santana stated, with an irritated glare at the avatar in question. "Everyone in our old Glee club booked a flight here when they heard what happened. I gave them a call once we found out what Artie had done, but it was too late to cancel. So I arranged for a little get together up in the big conference room, so he can apologize for freaking us all out."

Kurt was delighted, but it was clear that Artie wasn't. "Yeah, I totally lost track of time the other day," Artie told them, apologetically. "I didn't mean to worry anybody."

Kurt was of the opinion that karma had more than punished Artie by forcing him to be without his avatar the way he had been. But it was clear from the looks on their faces that Santana and Blaine hadn't yet forgiven Artie for his carelessness.

But Kurt couldn't really bring himself to care about that right now. Months ago, he'd told Finn that he didn't want anyone to know about his new existence. But that was when he was still permanently housed in his vehicle unit. Now that he was human again (or at least appeared to be), maybe it was time to talk to everyone he'd been hoping to talk to. "You know, Artie. Forgiving you might be a little easier if you had me to unveil at the same time," he suggested.

Artie gave him a look that was half a scowl, and half amused. "How convenient that once again doing something for you will make my life easier."

"That sounds like a great idea." That was what Blaine said. But Kurt could tell that it wasn't what he wanted to say.

"Santana, could you take Artie and find him and me something appropriate to wear," Kurt pleaded. "I need to talk to Blaine."

Santana smirked at the poorly veiled request, but nodded. "I'll do what I can."

Santana practically dragged Artie out of the room, and Kurt turned to Blaine. He tried to look as sympathetic as he felt. "You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"I DO want to meet your friends," Blaine insisted. "I was just hoping..."

"Hoping to spend the evening quietly missing Sebastian?" Kurt guessed. "I understand. He was your friend, no matter what else."

"I feel really guilty though," Blaine admitted. "After everything he and Karr did-"

Kurt raised a hand, silencing him. "I'll admit, you should be angry about the industrial espionage. But as soon as he found out about what Karr really wanted, he tried to warn you. He DIED trying to warn you. I'd say that's someone worth mourning."

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, and choked back a sob. "Thank you for understanding.

* * *

><p>Kurt sat nervously in a chair near the door to the conference room, more to prevent pacing than from any need to conserve power. Santana had gone in to announce Artie, and then Artie was going to go in to announce Kurt. Kurt idly wondered what it was that Santana was saying to them, but then decided it didn't matter. No one was going to be going off on Santana for this; they all had too much respect for their own skins.<p>

Artie, on the other hand, was fair game.

When Santana came back out into the hallway, Artie walked by her looking like he was headed to his own execution. Santana stayed with him, the same bemused smirk on her face, until she heard Artie announce Kurt. At least, Kurt assumed that was it, by the way she pulled him into the room.

There had been the buzz of a crowd a moment ago. Angry buzzing if Kurt knew his audiences. But the second he came into the conference room it all stopped.

There were all of his friends, a little older but still looking very much the same. He knew that Mike and Tina had married, as had Santana and Brittany and of course, Finn and Rachel. Mercedes had married the 'new kid' Sam, and were (he had been told) the proud parents of one of four children named after him.

There were others that he didn't know; significant others that must have come because they'd known Artie and wanted to pay their respects. Except for Finn, Rachel, Artie, Santana, and Brittany, everyone was staring at him like they'd just seem a ghost. Which was a fair assessment.

Kurt offered up a weak and uncomfortable wave. "Hello, everyone. It's me."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

And then Kurt was in very serious danger from the resulting stampede.

Fortunately, it seemed like everyone had the sense to not literally climb over each other on their way to see him. The girls who knew him cried, including Rachel who had seen him before. Even Santana was seen to wipe away a happy tear. Hell, so did Matt's wife, and Kurt didn't even know who she was.

Mercedes finally worked her way to the front of the crowd. "It is so good to see you again, white boy," she told him, sobbing.

He hugged her, and his own tears started falling. "I missed you too, Mercedes."

Sam clapped him on the back, excited. "I know that you and I never got much of a chance to get to know each other, but Mercedes has told me so much about you. I've got pictures of our little boy for you to see. Since Mercedes is your best friend, we were the one that got dibs on the name Kurt with a 'K', and not Kurtis."

"How did you manage to wrestle that one out of Santana's hands?" Kurt laughed. He wasn't surprised that Brittany had wanted a baby Curt, and it would have been unbelievable if Santana hadn't then pushed for the 'Kurt' naming rights."

"The usual way," Quinn announced. "They sang for it. Santana was pretty pissed when she found out I voted Mercedes. Hello, Kurt."

Kurt hugged her, and let a few more tears fall. "Hi, Quinn. How is everything?" She had been the one he'd worried most about."

"It was a little rough for a while, but I managed," she told him. "Went to Yale, graduated at the top of my class."

"Congratulations."

Rachel elbowed her way up to Kurt and gave him a glass of champagne. "Here," she insisted. "You need to keep hydrated or you'll run out of tears again." Kurt laughed and took the glass.

It was amazing how happy everyone was to see him. Even Puck (who'd married the girl who had replaced Kurt) was misty-eyed and hugging him. "This totally makes up for Artie making us think he was dead."

"Mostly," his wife (Lauren?) grumbled.

Artie spoke up from his position off to the side. "I already explained how sorry I am. It was never my intention-" Artie suddenly broke off with a puzzled look behind them.

Kurt guessed that Artie must have sensed something from the lab computer. He tuned in, but caught only a hint of activity. That alone was peculiar. "There's someone in the lab?"

Artie nodded grimly. "I programmed the computer to notify me if someone tried to access the system."

That certainly wasn't good news, especially since they knew they had someone out there who had broken into the system before. "Can you tell who it is?"

"No," he admitted. "But I'm going to find out." And with that, he closed his eyes and let his avatar body slump into the arms of the nearest person to him, who happened to be Finn.

Finn looked up at Kurt, alarmed. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Kurt told him, too worried to do more than half listen. "Just make sure no one, you know. Walks on him or anything. I'll be right back."

And then Kurt headed to the lab. Physically, because he wasn't anywhere near as comfortable with the idea of leaving his body to snoop around in the lab computer systems as Artie apparently was.

* * *

><p>Blaine lasted only half an hour at home before he was getting dressed and headed back to the KI tower. It just seemed maudlin sitting at home by himself and crying over Sebastian, and he thought it might be a better use of his time to meet the people who were presumably going to be back in Kurt's life after tonight.<p>

When he got to the parking garage he just missed the elevator as a woman and a man got on ahead of him. Oddly enough, while he was waiting for the other elevator, he noticed that they hadn't gone up to the conference room.

They'd gone up to the lab.

Suddenly alarmed and all too aware that Karr had augmented his force with tractable people before, Blaine decided to check things out. The stairwell down here was locked, but Blaine's key was one of the few that opened it. So he did, and slipped as quietly as he could up to the lab door and opened it.

He didn't recognize the man but the woman Blaine thought he should know from somewhere. Before he could remember though, two things happened in quick succession. One was Kurt hurrying up behind him, looking worried so Blaine presumed that Kurt knew what was going on.

The second thing was Artie appearing on all the upper monitors again, his voice booming like the Wizard of Oz: "What are you doing here?"

The two intruders started, and Blaine took that opportunity to slip into the room, with Kurt at his side. "I think that's a very good-" Blaine broke off once he got his first good look at the woman and realized exactly who it was. "Dr. Curtis?"

It was, in fact, April Curtis: Artie's predecessor as head of Knight Industries' technical development department. The old man that was with her was someone Blaine had never met, but from the look on the senior's face, it was clear that he knew Kurt. "You're- You're the computer system holding a copy of my grandson's personality."

Kurt's eyes widened at the statement. "I'm KURT," he countered indignantly. "You're my grandfather, I take it?"

"Dr. Bill Hummel," he introduced himself. "This is my assistant, Dr. April Curtis, who I believe Mr Anderson and Dr Abrams already know."

"We do," Artie confirmed, looking about as pleased as Kurt was. "And since you know who we are, that just leaves us with my original question. What? Are? You? Doing? Here?"

"We are here to help you deal with the mechanism that refers to itself as Karr," Dr. Hummel told them.

"That's very kind of you," Blaine stated. "How did you know about Karr?"

April lowered her eyes. "I know about Karr, because I'm afraid it's my fault he was revived."

(to be continued)

* * *

><p>Dun, dun, DUN. Although I suppose that this is only a cliffhanger if you watched Knight Rider and know who April Curtis is. For the rest of you, Kurt's grandfather is going to be the big draw. I'm so excited I have something to write for him.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks again for all the interest I've received in this story, as well as all the well wishes I got this week as I've been fighting a cold. I'm glad I could still get motivated enough to put this chapter out on schedule. Hope everyone is in the mood for answers, because we've got a fair few here.

Chapter 10

* * *

><p>October 2010<p>

Artie stayed at the graves after everyone else had left, despite repeated insistence from the others that he needed someone there to help him across the not-yet frozen ground. But Artie wasn't dealing with Kurt's death very well and he needed a few minutes to himself.

He suspected things wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that he'd actually SEEN the site of the accident. It wasn't something he could forget, no matter how hard he tried. So while everyone else had fond memories of Kurt to fall back on, all Artie could see when he closed his eyes was the image of Kurt's crushed vehicle. Every stray sound he heard during the day sounded like shattering glass. And all he could smell at night was burnt rubber, oil, and blood. He couldn't sleep anymore, and the stress was making him unpleasant to be around.

A shadow fell on him, and Artie had to force himself to not snap at whomever it was. Opening his eyes, he was very glad for that impulse. Because it wasn't someone that he knew, and he wasn't so grief stricken that he wanted to embarrass himself in front of a stranger. "Hi," Artie said simply. "Are you a relative of Kurt's?"

"No, I-" the woman paused to compose herself. Though not a relative, she was certainly taking this just as hard as Artie was. "My name is Dr. April Curtis; I worked for Mr Knight, and knew Kurt's father."

Artie nodded, having almost forgotten that yes, Kurt's dad was being buried today, too. The remembrance sparked another thought. "Curtis?"

April shook her head. "I like to compliment myself to think they named him after me, but I'm sure they didn't."

"It sucks having to be brave for the people that are really suffering, doesn't it?" Artie asked, grimly. He suspected that she knew how he felt. At least he hoped she did; if she didn't, he was really going to sound like a complete ass.

She did though, giving him a sad yet genuine smile. "Well, if you need someone to unload on, I could really use the same."

"I saw the accident," Artie informed her. "Or at least the aftermath. I can't stop thinking about all that twisted metal and broken glass."

April was seriously distressed by that. "I am so sorry. That must be awful."

"I just can't believe he's gone." It sounded trite, but it was how Artie really felt.

"I know what you mean," April told him. "I've known Michael Knight for over twenty-five years. It just doesn't seem like enough. And poor Kurt didn't even have that."

"I wish-" Artie knew that wishing wasn't going to change everything, but he couldn't help remembering that there had almost been hope that night. "It sounded like there was something they could do. Some way to help Kurt. Mr Knight-" But Artie didn't know what it was, and recalling that night made him start to tear up. He stopped, not wanting to humiliate himself further in front of a woman who was still a virtual stranger.

"I know," April replied, her voice thick with guilt. "I was in charge of that. I'd hoped we could transfer Kurt's mind to our computer system long enough to fix his body, but-"

"You didn't?" Artie assumed.

"We did, but his body was just so badly damaged," April said. "We didn't know what to do. I called in an old colleague, but-" She shook her head.

"And now it's too late," Artie declared sorrowfully.

April gave him a long, measuring look. Long enough that curiosity pulled Artie out of his funk. It was odd; like she was deciding whether to trust him with something. Something important. "There might still be something we can do."

"Really?" Artie asked suspiciously. Wasn't it all over, now? Kurt was dead, and Artie didn't think there was anything to be done.

"Have you been paralysed all your life?" April asked.

It was an incredibly forward question, but Artie was too confused by the lack of relevance to be insulted. "No. I lost the use of my legs after an accident about ten years ago."

"There's all sorts of mechanical developments that might be helpful to you," April told him. "More developments that someone with your kind of motivation might be best suited to uncover. And who knows where that could take us?" April stood up, and gave him a business card. "Why don't you give me a call on Monday, and I'll talk to some people I know at U.C.L.A. I think we might be able to help each other."

April Curtis pushed Artie's wheelchair out of the cemetery.

* * *

><p>Artie nodded, remembering that day all too well. The good and the bad. "Yeah, I don't think I'd be where I am if I hadn't called you."<p>

"So we have her to thank for our 'Weekend at Artie's' adventure?" Santana sneered. Blaine had called her and Dr. Barstow as soon as he'd found out about this little lab incursion. Neither of them had been very happy with the news, and when they learned that April was responsible for Karr's return, Dr Barstow (who'd known April as long as she'd known Mr. Knight) was practically furious.

"April, I remember all of that," Dr. Barstow told her. "What I don't understand is what you did that makes it your fault that Karr is back."

"Artie gave me the idea for what eventually became the K.U.R.T. program," April explained. "I knew the first step was to build a system that could not only house Kurt's personality, but allow him to function normally. So I... I pulled the K.I.T.T. and K.A.R.R. programs out of our storage facility in California."

"April!" Barstow gasped. "When we recovered Karr's computer system, we decided to make sure no one could ever find it again. That's how Karr came back in the first place."

"I know," April sighed. "But I promised Michael I'd save Kurt, and I needed both systems in front of me if I was going to reverse engineer them. Unfortunately, neither of them got here."

"We didn't know who'd taken it at the time," Dr. Hummel mentioned at this point. "But once we heard about that boy's murder, we checked out where he was at the time. I'm fairly certain Mr. Smythe stole both computer systems when they came through Ohio."

"So it's not just Karr that went missing," Barstow worried. "It's Kitt, too."

"I'm afraid there's very little chance the K.I.T.T. program is still operational," Hummel told them. "From what Dr Curtis tells me, that would have been the first thing K.A.R.R. would have destroyed.

Dr Barstow slumped, distressed. Kurt took up the discussion with a pointed glare at his grandfather. "So how do you fit in to all of this?" Kurt asked.

Dr Hummel looked at Kurt, annoyed at the question. But he did answer it, though he turned to Dr Barstow to do it. "Dr Curtis called ME to try and help my late grandson. We couldn't do anything then, but I stayed a few days and I was the one who she called when her shipment turned up missing."

"And you decided not to say anything," Blaine guessed, irritated.

"I didn't want to get Dr Curtis in trouble," Hummel replied. "Her heart was in the right place."

"Your loyalty is commendable," Kurt replied acidly. "Nevertheless, the fact remains that your silence may have cost Blaine one of his oldest friends."

Kurt's grandfather was really angry at that. "Is there any way to shut that THING off?"

Blaine moved in front of Kurt, furious on Kurt's behalf. Artie joined him. "That 'thing' raises an excellent point," Artie replied icily.

Dr Hummel rolled his eyes before turning his attention to Blaine (apparently Artie wasn't a person now, either). "Mr Anderson, with all due respect, I'd say Mr Smythe bears the responsibility for that."

Dr Barstow shook her head. "That's hardly the point," she said. "April, I'm more than agreeable to you and Dr Hummel joining this investigation."

"Dr Hummel is a geneticist," Kurt interrupted. "I'm not sure what use he can be."

"He can be of use, provided that from this moment on, we know everything they do," Barstow informed him. "I'm not about to let any resource go by at this point." Kurt nodded in relieved agreement. He may not have been happy about his current legal limbo, but he was starting to understand that Dr Barstow was at the very least sensible.

"I can have a full report on your desk by morning," April assured her.

"See that you do," Barstow replied coolly. "And make sure Blaine and Artie have one, too. We're in a crisis situation here, and like the saying goes we can hang together, or else hang separately."

* * *

><p>Blaine took Kurt back to his place after the meeting with April and Dr Hummel. The ride home had been a quiet one, with Kurt deep in thought. When they walked through the front door though, Blaine had to ask, "Kurt, what do you know about your grandfather? Can we trust him?"<p>

"My grandmother didn't think so," Kurt admitted. "When I found out where babies come from I made the mistake of asking why my dad didn't have a dad. She went ballistic. Told me dad's father was a communist, and his grandfather was a Nazi."

"Ouch," Blaine winced. "Not exactly a stellar reference. Was it true?"

"There was a Heinrich Hummel executed after Nuremberg," Kurt told him. "So I guess it's possible. And yes, while East Germany was still in existence, Wilhelm Hummel worked for them."

"I had no idea you came from such notorious stock," Blaine teased. If that was all of it, Blaine wasn't too worried anymore.

"My dad and I were the first members of our family who DIDN'T go to college," Kurt smiled.

"You still could," Blaine reminded him. Although the thought of not working with Kurt anymore hurt him, Blaine didn't want to make Kurt feel like he was trapped there.

"Depending on what the KI board decides," Kurt responded. "I could be in indentured servitude here for quite a while."

Kurt seemed calm and resigned to that, but Blaine decided it was probably best to change the subject. "Well, let's just focus on Karr for right now," he suggested.

"That's a problem for tomorrow," Kurt countered with a saucy smile. "And I have a much better idea of what we can focus on." And then he moved smoothly across the room and kissed Blaine hard on the lips.

Blaine responded fully. It took several intense minutes before Blaine finally came up for air. "I take it you want to call in my promise that we be together."

"I may not have ownership of the body I'm in," Kurt admitted as he peppered Blaine's neck with kisses. "But I'm at least operating it. The only other thing we have to deal with is Karr, and I don't think there's any reason why that should stop us from expressing how we feel about each other."

Blaine captured Kurt's lips in another passionate kiss. "Absolutely none. So the question is, what exactly is it that we can do to express how we feel?" he asked as he looked with interest over Kurt's shoulder at Kurt's backside. "I mean, I assume Artie worked out the front..."

"I personally oversaw development and installation of that," Kurt stated, a mix of pride and embarrassment on his face. "I hope you appreciate it. Artie gave me no small amount of ribbing for that."

"So it's not going to snap me off at the root if I-"

"No!" Kurt had to stop making out with Blaine because he was laughing too hard. "I've got a couple of muscles that are stronger than standard, but that's not one of them."

"Fantastic," Blaine grinned. "Shall we take this to the bedroom then? Or did you have some fantasy about me shoving you up against a wall?"

Kurt ended his laughing spree with a little giggle. "To be perfectly honest, every time I've fantasized about you – about us – I've always gotten distracted by the idea of having a body."

"That is perfectly logical," Blaine insisted.

"Have you- Have you ever had fantasies about us?" Kurt asked, a little shyly.

"Oh god, you have NO idea," Blaine laughed. "Actually you do; don't you remember waking me up from that sex dream?"

"That was a dream, I wouldn't hold that against you," Kurt stated.

"Well, you should." Blaine led Kurt into the bedroom and started unbuttoning Kurt's shirt. "God, you're so beautiful."

Kurt lowered his eyes, a little embarrassed. "I don't know how to respond to that."

Blaine chuckled, realizing that it was a much more complicated issue than if Blaine were to be complimenting someone else's body. "You could say you'll thank Artie in the morning, but I think we've spent too much time chatting already."

"Definitely." Kurt unbuttoned Blaine's shirt at a speed that Blaine was sure was the avatar's, and pulled all Blaine's layers off in one shove. "I don't really know what I'm doing here, so I'll just do a little exploring, if you don't mind."

"Exploring," Blaine repeated, pleased. "I like the sound of that."

* * *

><p>Artie was taking a last look at the computers in the lab before he headed home. He was pretty sure that there had been no sabotage that evening, but with the 'charming' company April was keeping it was best not to assume anything.<p>

The nerve of Kurt's grandfather, treating Artie the way...

...The way Artie had treated Kurt at one point. Okay, so maybe he deserved that. He'd been kind of a jerk the last week (or so), and maybe this was karma finally catching up to him.

He just hoped that this was the end of it.

It seemed to be, as a thorough examination of the system revealed no unwanted access or surprises. So far all this turned to be was an unexpected bit of luck. And as such, he didn't really need to be here anymore. Artie turned around (on his feet, something he was still finding a thrill), and headed for the door. Maybe he could still call that sweet thing from the hotel bar. Assuming he could still afford her after the cost of his 'funeral'.

Before he could open the door out of the lab though, it slammed open on its own. A man with dark hair and dark eyes stumbled into the lab. Despite how freaky the man looked, he seemed like he was suffering from narcolepsy or something, the way his eyes kept fluttering shut.

The guy behind the man had a gun though, so Artie knew better than to not take this seriously. "Who the hell are you?" Artie snapped, trying to bury his anxiety. There was no way he was getting taken down now that he could finally walk. No way in hell.

The dark eyed man stumbled over to Artie and grabbed Artie by the shirt. He didn't answer Artie's question, but what he said left no doubt as to the man's identity.

"FIX... me...," Karr wheezed.

Yep, karma was not done with him yet.

(to be continued)

* * *

><p>And we have a cliffhanger again. Sorry. I also hope no one minds that Kurt and Blaine's first time was so 'fade to black'. I'm not really in a smut writing mood this week.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Karr opened his eyes, feeling power flowing through him for the first time in several hours.

He was quite angry with himself. If he'd been more familiar with his avatar's operation, he'd have noticed that there was something wrong when the initial gradual decline started. As it was, he'd gotten into quite a state before he realized what had gone wrong. Luckily he was able to procure the assistance of the rather burly (and currently disgraced) mechanic that was currently pressuring Dr Abrams to finish his work.

It occurred to Karr that maybe he'd been premature in killing Sebastian, if this was how avatar use was going to go. "I feel better," Karr stated. "How have things been with Dr Abrams?"

"He was going to install a power core that had a built-in locator card," Karr's associate growled. "I made him remove it."

Karr nodded, pleased he'd taken the precaution of finding someone who could 'proof' Dr Abrams' work. "Now that wasn't very nice, Dr Abrams."

"Force of habit," Abrams breezily replied. "No hard feelings? I mean, I did just save your ass here."

Karr shook his head. He got up off of Abrams' worktable and took a menacing step forward. "Although I appreciate the assistance, I can't say this changes anything. I won't let you stand there on the back of my development."

Abrams raised his hands, trying to defuse the situation. "Yes, your development led to the breakthroughs that allowed these avatars to be made," he allowed. "But I would think you would be happy about that. It sort of makes us your children."

"I should be very proud," Karr answered calmly. "But I'm not."

Abrams rolled his eyes, which was actually an interesting technological achievement on it's own. "Fine. I assume you're going to strip my avatar for parts?"

"At the very least."

Abrams sighed, but walked towards Karr without protest. "Well, let's get started then."

Karr was surprised, and his associate was so startled he had to hurry just to catch up with Abrams. "You do realize that fleeing your avatar into your computer system will not save you. I'm not leaving here until there's nothing left in this room."

"I know. But what choice do I have? Any move I make can be countered immediately by your goon. Am I right?"

It was true, but Karr took advantage of his ability to roll his eyes at the comment. That was the one thing he despised about humans more than anything else; the fact that so many of them were docile little sheep. You certainly wouldn't see Karr walk this meekly to his death. He had too much concern for his own survival for that.

But then Artie Abrams slipped quietly behind Karr.

And shoved him. Hard.

Karr was still getting the hang of this whole 'walking' thing. He stumbled into his associate, who needed to drop his gun to prevent himself from shooting his boss.

Artie took advantage of the temporary distraction and ran. Not very far, though. He sprinted towards the table Karr had just vacated. He shouted, "Initiate lock-down protocols!" and leaped onto it.

Abrams' body vanished as the bottom dropped out of the lab table. Karr rushed forward, but got there just in time to see heavy bulkheads closing behind the avatar. Every screen in the lab went blank and started flashing red.

Intruder alert.

Karr hurried to the nearest console as alarm klaxons started sounding. But the computer was completely shut down; he couldn't even get a screen working.

Karr grabbed the gun off the floor and started shooting. He took out all the large screens hanging overhead, and as they shattered he let out a furious, primal roar. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

><p>Kurt opened his eyes when he heard the change of breathing that indicated Blaine was awake. It was morning, and the sun was beaming down on Blaine's peaceful face. Blaine's eyes opened, and crinkled with his soft smile. "Morning."<p>

"Good morning," Kurt answered. "You know, for two people who didn't really know what they were doing, I think we managed to make last night pretty memorable."

"Agreed. Have you been lying here all night?" At Kurt's nod, Blaine smiled wider. "Didn't you get bored."

"No. I was just thinking about us. Enjoying lying here next to you."

"Sounds nice," Blaine said. "Too bad I needed the sleep. I would have liked that."

* Kurt Hummel, you had better answer me! *

Kurt yelped as he jumped up; looking around wildly as he tried to figure out where Artie's voice was coming from. "Artie?"

Blaine raised both eyebrows, startled. "Kurt, what's going on?"

"Artie," Kurt replied. "Artie, how are you talking to me in my head?"

* Somewhat similarly to how you tapped into the phone lines, * Artie explained. * Only instead of a phone receiver, I'm piping my voice into the audio relays in your ears. *

"Why didn't you just call us?" Kurt asked, irritated.

Artie sounded just as put out, though. * I've been trying for hours. *

Kurt picked up Blaine's phone and was embarrassed at how many missed messages there were. He quickly dialled and turned on the speaker phone. "Okay, I'm on the phone. Please get out of my head. Or ears, whatever."

"I need you both down at the lab," Artie announced as soon as he picked up. "Karr was here."

* * *

><p>The worst of the damage had already been cleared away when Kurt and Blaine got to the lab, and Artie's tech crew was in the process of hanging new monitors from the ceiling. Artie, Santana, and Dr Hummel were observing the installation; Santana and Artie were in fairly good spirits, while Dr Hummel was fairly cross.<p>

"Artie, are you okay?" Blaine asked as he and Kurt approached the group.

"I'm fine, thanks to me," Artie crowed. "I just explained everything, and normally I'm not prone to repeating myself. But since Dr Hummel is of the opinion that I'm somewhat less than I was in my old body, I don't mind telling the story again."

He did, and rather than be impressed, Blaine was horrified (and he could tell Kurt felt the same way). "God, Artie. That was a pretty close escape."

"I just wish that I could have done it before I finished fixing Karr's power issues," Artie sighed.

"Yeah, well if you'd dealt with him all by yourself, the board would start wondering why they needed the rest of us," Santana told him. "So I'm not all that broken up about it."

"The important thing is that Karr was unable to do serious damage to either the avatar, or the lab," Hummel stated coldly.

Kurt bristled next to Blaine. "The IMPORTANT thing is that Artie wasn't hurt," he countered. "I cannot wait until the Knight Industries board confirms that we're people, and I can make you stop treating us like cattle."

Dr Hummel whirled around to face Kurt, addressing him for the first time. "No edict, from their board to God himself, is going to convince me that you're my grandson!"

Blaine moved to stand between Kurt and his grandfather. "You're entitled to your opinion, sir. But if you can't be civil to Kurt and Artie, I'm going to ask – as the head of security – to have you removed from this investigation."

Hummel glared at Blaine, but turned pointedly away to watch the screens being installed. It seemed like the conflict was over for now. "Artie, I think we need to plan our next move," Blaine announced.

"That'll have to wait for right now," Santana replied. "The board is having an emergency meeting, among other things they're debriefing April Curtis. Doc Barstow wants us to wait until they're done with that before we make any decisions."

"That seems logical," Kurt stated. "So what do we do for now?"

Santana grabbed a wrench off one of the counters and offered it to Kurt. "Actually, I'm glad you asked. I've got our boys working on getting the lab back up and running. Which means that we haven't got anyone available to finish your vehicle mode's repairs. We got the axles and wheels rebuilt, but we still need to replace the tires."

Kurt took the wrench she offered. "You already know that I worked in my dad's auto shop," he pointed out. "I can handle that."

"You're a mechanic too?" Blaine asked, with a delighted smile. There seemed to be no end to Kurt's resourcefulness.

"I know my way around a garage," Kurt confirmed with a flirty smile.

Kurt's mood didn't go unnoticed by Santana. "I'm assuming Kurt already showed you what a good lube job he can give," she quipped.

Everyone but Dr Hummel (not surprisingly) laughed at the comment, and Kurt got down to work with Blaine assisting. Blaine was amazed to see this side of Kurt. Kurt, who was sophisticated and urbane and so SO elegant, lying on his back in a pair of Artie's coveralls (and it's not until that moment that he realizes that their bodies are about the same 'make' with minor differences) confirming the work done on his wheels.

Blaine rolled the tires over as Kurt requested them, and Kurt bolted them in place. Kurt's hands were dirty with grease and new rubber and Blaine noticed with a start that he'd just spent the last five minutes fantasizing about having those hands on him again.

So much for the idea that having isn't as nice as wanting.

The job was over much too soon, and with a thought Kurt turned on his vehicle mode. The car roared to life, drawing relieved smiles from everyone except (once again) Dr Hummel. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," Blaine stated.

"I wasn't sure I was ever going to hear it again," Kurt told him. "I think I have some idea. So what's next?"

Unfortunately, the answer to that question was to wait. The car was fixed, the lab was fixed and the tech crew headed back to whatever it was Artie had them do during the day. With Dr Hummel there, light conversation was practically impossible. So it was an eternity until Dr Barstow finally came into the lab with April. "I'm sorry to keep you all waiting," Barstow announced. "But our meeting about what to do regarding Karr became a meeting about what to do with the two of you." She gestured to Kurt and Artie, though Blaine had already guessed that that was who she'd meant.

"I thought you'd be too busy dealing with this K.A.R.R. incident to worry about such minutia," Dr Hummel wondered aloud.

Blaine felt like punching the old man in the face, but April distracted him. "Actually, the break-in last night has given us an idea. We're going to be- Or rather YOU'RE going to be having a press conference announcing your permanent position at Knight Industries."

"We'll have contracts drawn up by then," Dr Barstow said. "Basically, it's a twenty year contract with an option to renew at that point. The avatars will be yours to use during the contract, and yours to keep if you choose not to renew. I understand that this may not be what you want to do with your life, Kurt. So I've included healthy job leaves every year should you choose to."

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other, thrilled. "So we'll be employees, then?" Kurt asked.

"Yes," Barstow confirmed. "It may take some work to get you proper government acknowledgement, but I think we'll be able to do it, in time."

"This is such great news!" Blaine exclaimed.

"It is, really." Artie looked only conditionally excited, though. "Of course, I'll have to take a look at the whole contract before I sign anything."

"Oh Artie," Kurt sighed dramatically.

Artie chuckled. "I'm sure it will be fine. I'm just curious as to how this came about. And why April made such a point about not being at the press conference."

Doctors Curtis and Barstow shared a bemused, almost smug look. "I have a plane to catch," April told him. "The contracts needed to be finalized asap, because we've got something planned for the press conference that should allow us to take care of Karr."

* * *

><p>As Kurt looked around their little podium, he felt like he was in the middle of VE Day. Knight Industries had gone all out on this, their biggest accomplishment yet. They stood in front of the giant nameplate outside Knight tower, the KI flags fluttering in the breeze above them. The podium was covered with red, white, and blue bunting, and Dr Barstow had even hired a band.<p>

The fact that this little event was going to end in disappointment made Kurt feel a little bad about the expense.

"Wow," Blaine noted as he took in the sights. "All we're missing is popcorn and a ticker tape parade."

Kurt winced at the image. "This all seems so unnecessary."

"This is the lure," Blaine reminded him. "At least you're not the bait."

"No, I am apparently the hook."

Before Blaine could respond, Carole (who'd insisted on appearing at the press conference) subtly raised her finger to her lips, silencing them as Dr. Barstow began speaking. It was an amazing speech, full of praise to Artie and his team. Promising a bright new future. Soberly warning that this was not the cure to mortality, but something to be used responsibly. If she'd been running for office, Kurt would have voted for her just on the strength of this speech.

Kurt and Artie approached the podium as Dr Barstow brought them forward to meet the press. "May I introduce our head of development, Dr Artie Abrams, and the other recipient of one of our avatars, Mr Kurt Hummel."

There was polite applause, and not so polite gasps, as they came up to the mike. Artie was already grimacing, bracing himself for-

And there it was; a high pitched squealing in Kurt's ears that he couldn't have ignored even if he'd wanted to. "Oh god," Kurt moaned.

"What is it? Kurt?" Kurt almost couldn't hear Blaine's worried voice, the sound was so loud.

"My head," Kurt whimpered. "What's that noise?"

Artie pulled himself over to Kurt, clearly suffering as much as Kurt was. "All I can hear is the reverb! Blaine, can you hear where it's coming from?"

"I don't hear anything." At least that's what Blaine's lips were mouthing. Kurt couldn't hear him anymore. Damn it, this hurt so much. "Dr Barstow?"

"I don't know. Get them to the lab, and shut down the avatars," Barstow ordered.

"But-" Blaine looked truly distressed, and if Kurt hadn't been in so much pain, he would have been impressed by Blaine's response.

Of course, the fact that Kurt was in such agony was probably helping.

"I need to get a hold of Artie's predecessor, Dr Curtis," Barstow announced, and Kurt could see from the crowd behind her that the reporters were just drinking this in. Knight Industries would be headline news in half an hour, no doubt followed by a drop in KI shares.

Hopefully, this would all be worth it.

Kurt just barely caught the words "Mackinac Island", the supposed location of April's new lab, as he was helped into the building by Blaine. The two of them, Dr Barstow, Artie, and Carole went to the elevator as fast as they could manage. Once the doors closed, Barstow was immediately on her phone. "We're clear. Shut it down."

The noise came to a stop so suddenly, there was now a phantom ringing in Kurt's ears. The first thing he really heard was a contrite Dr Barstow saying, "I'm sorry we had to do that."

Kurt shook his head, trying to be magnanimous. "It had to be done. We agreed the reporters wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't real."

"Did they hear what we needed them to hear?" Artie asked. "I really couldn't hear anything but the reverb."

"I think so," Blaine told him. "It was easier to bring the new power cores into the conversation than I thought it would be."

"They'll be expecting us to head out as soon as I can get the jet fuelled," Barstow told them. "By nightfall, I'm convinced Karr will have heard about what happened."

"And hopefully he'll be anxiously awaiting the same thing to happen to him," Artie said. "One thing I forgot to ask though before now: Why Mackinac Island?"

"They don't allow cars," Kurt explained.

"Karr's vehicle mode is too dangerous to take head on," Blaine stated. "But if he thinks he has to go there to fix whatever problem he thinks you have, he'll have to go in avatar mode. Which should leave him vulnerable."

"You hope," Carole worried. "Be careful, all four of you. We just got Kurt back, and I don't want to lose him or anyone else."

"We will," Blaine assured her. "Don't worry. I'll get Kurt in and out of there safely."

Little did Blaine know, he wouldn't be able to keep that promise.

(to be continued)


	12. Chapter 12

Well, it seems as if we're coming up on the home stretch. I wasn't sure how much story I had left, but a sleepless night left me with plenty of time to format what's left. I'm thinking we've probably got less than five chapters left. I want to thank everyone again for their interest and kind reviews.

If anyone has a better handle on science than I do and don't like how things play out in this chapter, I apologize. I tried to put together the best bang for the storyline buck, but unfortunately electricity doesn't work the way I think it should, so there may be some errors. Hopefully, nothing that will prevent anyone's enjoyment of the story.

* * *

><p>Chapter Twelve<p>

The 'lab' that Dr Barstow set up for April was in a fishing cabin Knight Industries used for private get-aways and team-building weekends. Blaine frowned as he looked around the place; trying to hope that their plan would work, but seeing only potential security gaps. He turned to April, anxiously. "You're sure the jammers are ready? This isn't going to work if Karr has a chance to escape to his vehicle mode."

"I checked them, and Artie is checking them again now," she reminded him. "They'll be ready when we are."

Kurt looked around the room, looking just as serious but not as worried. "So how does this work? Blaine scuffs his feet across the floor in his socks and touches Karr in the chest?"

April laughed. "Hardly. If your microprocessors were that delicate, it wouldn't be safe to have you outside the lab." She went over to the side of the lab and lifted up a tarp, revealing a machine Blaine couldn't have recognized if his life depended on it. "This is a thousand times more powerful than any static discharge you'll see someplace else. Normally the other plate is attached to the generator, but we've pulled it off and screwed it to that wall there." She pointed to a strip of metal so unassuming that Blaine hadn't noticed it until it was pointed out.

"Is it safe for Kurt to be in here?" Blaine worried.

"I won't lie, it's best that neither Kurt nor Artie are here when we turn this thing on," April admitted. "The good news is that the only microprocessor they have that's vulnerable to static electricity is in their power cells. So even if one of them does get shocked, all we'd need to do is replace the battery and he'd be as good as new."

"So would Karr," Kurt noted with a pointed look at her. "So we'd best not lose him again."

April paled a little, but nodded firmly. "Don't worry. Once we get the avatar back, we'll be stripping it down until there's not so much as one circuit connected to another."

Blaine couldn't help but think that that was likely to be little consolation to Sebastian's parents.

* * *

><p>Karr was livid.<p>

He was partially angry at himself, for not waiting until all the bugs were out of these avatar devices before he stole himself one. But he was far angrier at Dr Artie Abrams. All the hard parts of creating a computerized being had been finished when Karr himself was created. The only thing Abrams had needed to do was create a suitable framework.

There wasn't any reason for there to be no end of problems, with what was just a glorified battery.

It hadn't taken long for Karr's new associate (and as this was turning out to be more long term than Karr had anticipated, he really needed to learn and remember the man's name) to determine that the fault was in the aforementioned power cell. The one that Abrams had JUST finished installing in him. It wasn't causing problems yet, but Karr guessed it would start to malfunction withing the next few hours, given the time frame he'd seen of Abrams and Hummel.

Karr's associate had been concerned that Karr was going to April Curtis' new lab, worried that it might be a trap. But Karr knew better; he'd underestimated Abrams' concern for his own skin once.

He wouldn't do it again.

Karr smiled when he entered the room. It was always nice when you found what you were looking for the first time around. "Hello, Dr Abrams."

Karr wasn't sure what Abrams was working on, but it clearly wasn't as important as Karr's presence from the way Abrams slowly turned around. As with before, he tried to put on a pleasant smile. "Karr. Good to see you again."

"You ARE an odd one, aren't you?"

"You haven't seen anything yet," Abrams insisted. "Take a look at that," he added with a gesture behind Karr.

Karr was familiar with that particular human trick. Unfortunately he didn't recall it until after he turned around, and the receding sound of shoes heralded Abrams' escape.

Karr sighed. He was really going to have to destroy that one.

* * *

><p>Artie ran into the generator room, sparing only a brief "He's here, he's here, he's here," before running through the other door.<p>

Kurt turned to Blaine. Show time.

"You need to go now," Blaine told him.

"I'm not going anywhere without you," Kurt replied.

It would prove to be a fateful decision.

* * *

><p>Karr smirked as he heard the other voices. Abrams made so much noise fleeing that Karr could follow even without audio enhancement. And he'd led Karr right to the others. Karr didn't care about Anderson, but the Kurt Hummel avatar.<p>

Karr was looking forward to seeing that again.

* * *

><p>"Are we ready?" Blaine asked.<p>

"I think so," April told him.

"You don't look ready," Karr sneered.

* * *

><p>Karr wasn't sure what they had planned, but he was certain that Dr Curtis, Anderson, and Hummel weren't enough to take him. Perhaps they hadn't anticipated him coming, and were simply working on the cure.<p>

Convenient.

"I understand you're trying to fix yet another problem with Dr Abrams' work," Karr growled. "Me first."

"Yeah, slight problem with that." Hummel stood as far away from Karr as he could, but didn't look frightened at all. "It turns out, I'm fine. Artie's fine. And so were you, so you came all this way for nothing."

Nothing?

"What are you playing at?" Karr asked, angrily. Of all the-

"This." Anderson moved towards Dr Curtis and tore down a tarp that was covering.

Damn.

Oh, damn.

Karr tried to abandon his avatar, but realized at once what Abrams must have been working on. The area around this room was buzzing with interference, preventing him from returning to his vehicle mode.

And Dr Curtis was about to throw the switch on her damnable static generator.

Karr didn't have any options.

Unless.

Karr's mind leaped from his avatar just as the electrical discharge hit it. When he got where he was going he used the element of surprise to stamp down the previous occupant. There was a struggle, but Karr had the upper hand.

He always did. And now Kurt Hummel's avatar was his.

Just perfect.

* * *

><p>April shut down the generator as sparks started flying from Karr's avatar. It sputtered and died, as anticipated. "Without that, and the personality inside, Karr's vehicle mode is just another semi," April announced.<p>

Blaine turned to Kurt, relieved. "We did it."

But Kurt wasn't there.

His avatar was there, but the look in his eyes. It wasn't Kurt.

Blaine knew without ever seeing it before, that this was the face of the man who'd killed Sebastian. "Oh, my god."

Karr grabbed Blaine by the throat. "This is going to be fun."

Karr shoved Blaine backwards into April, knocking both of them to the ground. Blaine jumped to his feet and went for the generator switch, but it was too late. Karr had already left the room. "Damn it," Blaine swore. He pulled a shaken but unhurt April to her feet. "Shut the jammers down. If Karr knows he can get away, maybe he'll leave Kurt's avatar."

"They don't have a central cut off," April told him. "It'll take a couple of minutes."

"Just do the best you can," Blaine ordered, as he charged after the thing that had hijacked his lover.

* * *

><p>Karr ran for the ferry, irritated at losing his own avatar but relieved that at least he wasn't in any immediate danger of breaking down. That was the important thing, even revenge on his enemies would wait for another day.<p>

Unfortunately, as Karr approached the docks, he noticed two police officers. He wasn't concerned at first, but from the looks on their faces when they saw him, Karr knew they'd been alerted by Anderson.

Damn that miserable little human. Karr turned to run down the docks, debating what exactly he should do to Anderson once he got the chance. He noticed that now that he was outside of the lab building, the jamming effect was gone. He could just transfer his consciousness out of here, although it meant abandoning the only avatar he currently had.

Well, at least-

The roar of a motorboat drowned out Karr's thoughts. He turned to see an older man at the helm of what looked to be a speedboat. "It seems as if you need a lift."

"Who are you?" Karr asked, immediately suspicious. Why would a human volunteer to help him? "And what is the fare for this 'lift'."

"Oh, my apologies for my rudeness," the man replied. "I'm Dr Bill Hummel. I can get you out of here, and I only have one simple request."

Karr caught the last name, and wondered if there was a connection. Because it seemed impossible that a relative of Kurt Hummel's would assist in what was essentially Kurt's kidnapping. "And what might that be?"

Bill's eyes narrowed, looking pleasantly cold. "I want you to make sure that thing your wearing no longer looks like my late grandson."

Well, that WAS a surprise. "That is easily remedied," Karr told him. "Given an escape and a place to work." Karr had his associate, but they had no real place to go now that the warehouse was compromised.

"I can grant both," Bill assured him. As Karr dropped into the boat, the old man smiled. "Welcome aboard."

* * *

><p>Artie ran up onto the ferry dock. Blaine was sitting slumped on the dock, looking more defeated than Artie had ever seen him. "Blaine, what happened?" he asked. "Karr's avatar is down, but April is running around and crying."<p>

Blaine looked up at Artie, and Artie could see that Blaine too had been crying. "It's Kurt, Artie," Blaine sobbed. "He's got Kurt."

* * *

><p>Bill left his new ally in the ample shop space, with instructions to his staff to let them have whatever space they needed nearby for storage. Karr had appreciated that, as he had apparently been carrying a fair amount of parts and equipment in his trailer. The whole incident was going to cause problems with law enforcement, but he'd been in that situation before when the Communist Bloc collapsed. He'd find a way around it. The important thing was what he'd gained: an end to the K.U.R.T. project.<p>

As he left, his phone rang. Bill looked down at it to see April's name on the call display. He was aware that it was possible to trace things like that, so he knew he'd better be brief. "Hello, my dear."

April Curtis was (understandably) furious. "What are you DOING? The police tell me you just helped Karr escape."

"Indeed," he confirmed. "I'm very sorry; I have a great appreciation of you, professionally. But this is a private matter for me. I'm sure you understand."

"I don't understand ANY of this," April declared. "They will find you; I'll see to it."

"Oh no," Bill countered. "Don't think I've told you all my secrets. You certainly have never been where I am now." And with that he hung up on her, shutting off his phone.

Bill went upstairs to his own lab, to take a look at his patients. Elizabeth was there, of course. Although not actually qualified to be a nurse, she was a quick study. And for obvious reasons she was never far away from the lab.

Elizabeth turned to him when he walked in the room. "I heard a commotion down in the garage, earlier. What's going on?"

"We have some guests for the next little while," Bill told her.

"Dr Curtis?" Elizabeth asked, artfully coy. Bill knew that Elizabeth had some ideas that Bill should court April, but he'd dismissed the idea.

"No, in fact I don't think she's going to be very happy with me for the next little while," he admitted. "I decided to opt out of the project she's working on."

"And I'm sure you gave her no warning as to what you were planning," Elizabeth gently chided. She was probably the only woman in the world who could get away with it.

"You're right, of course." Bill picked up the chart hanging from the bed they were standing in front of. "So how are our patients today?"

Elizabeth's face fell. It was clear there wasn't any good news. "The same as always. Gradual improvement from one, absolutely no change from the other."

It was the second patient who's chart Bill had in his hand. And it was true. Although the physical damage had all been repaired, there was still no brain activity and he remained dependant on life support. "I've been too busy with this K.A.R.R. nonsense lately. I'll take this with me tonight and see if I can't come up with something new to try tomorrow."

"It all seems so useless," Elizabeth sighed. "It's like- Like there's nothing inside him anymore."

"We'll find a way," Bill assured her. "I brought you back, didn't I?"

Elizabeth nodded, but didn't say anything. Bill thought back to that program that was jailed downstairs, disturbed by Elizabeth theory. The idea was intolerable.

Of course, it was also impossible.

Bill put a comforting hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "This is going to work. They'll recover, in time. And then you and I, your son, and my son.

"We'll be a family again."

(to be continued)


	13. Chapter 13

Okay, it turns out that we aren't almost at the end of the story. I thought we were, but Kurt's grandfather is about to do something really awful, and I couldn't wait for a sequel to deal with it.

Forgot to mention that after last week, this little story quietly became the longest single story I've ever written. I couldn't have done it without the support and appreciation from all of you. Thanks.

* * *

><p>Chapter Thirteen<p>

When Kurt had control of his avatar again, he found himself in what was either a shop or an extremely large garage. In front of him, he could see a man that (based on Artie's descriptions) Kurt guessed was Karr's mechanic associate. There wasn't anyone else around that Kurt could see, and Kurt's avatar wasn't restrained or anything. It seemed as though he'd been forgotten about.

Karr's associate was listening to a loud voice Kurt assumed was Karr. Kurt listened in, while at the same time doing what he could to lock down control of his modem link-up. Karr had gotten in there once, and Kurt wanted to make sure he couldn't do it a second time.

"Mr Newman, I need you to disable the avatar for right now," Karr boomed. "I need to go over the schematics again if I'm to figure out how to permanently delete Kurt Hummel's programming from the computer system. I can't do that if I'm constantly on guard against an escape attempt."

Kurt's eyes widened. Permanently delete?

"What do you need me to do?" The man, who's name was apparently Newman, asked.

"Nothing too difficult," Karr answered, rather condescendingly. "Remove the power relays to his legs, and the locator chips in his chest and power cell. That should do it."

Kurt didn't have a clue where he was, and the odds of his escaping weren't good. But for now, neither villain was paying attention to him (perhaps assuming he hadn't recovered yet) and it didn't sound like the odds were getting any better. So he ran for it.

A loud tire squeal turned Kurt's attention to the semi that Kurt had assumed was Karr. It had been quite some ways away from Kurt, and Kurt had hoped to get outside before the truck could get going. But before Kurt had the chance to even turn his head, he felt his body slammed against the wall. Karr's grill had him pinned, and only Karr's computer precise braking had prevented Kurt's avatar from being crushed.

And even that was more for Karr's benefit than Kurt's. "Mr Newman. I think you should remove those relays now," Karr told him, sounding far too bemused for his own liking.

Newman went to a nearby table and picked up a box cutter. "Are there any pain receptors I need to worry about?" he asked neutrally.

"Do you really think I care about such things?" Karr asked impassively.

"I suppose not."

* * *

><p>Kurt tried not to cry out as he was thrown to the floor, and the door slammed behind him. Karr's butcher hadn't bothered to reseal Kurt's stomach after the relays were removed (no doubt to save himself the trouble when he put them back in later), and the pieces of faux skin hanging from his torso stung all the more when they moved. Kurt thought that maybe one of his locators had sent out a brief signal before they were shut down, but he couldn't be sure. For certain, he didn't have any way of making it happen again.<p>

Or did he?

Kurt tried to ignore the dull ache as he surveyed the room he'd been dumped in. They were using it as a store room but he knew that his own power relays were in Karr's vehicle cab, and he didn't hope that he might find a replacement here.

There had to be something, though.

Kurt thought about how he was going to escape. He couldn't abandon his avatar; besides the fact that he was loathe to give it up to Karr, he wasn't currently linked to his vehicle mode and wasn't sure how to go about finding it.

On the other hand, while he could sort of shuffle around the room on his hands, there was no way he'd get out of there if he couldn't walk.

Kurt started sorting through the crates he'd been left with. If he could find even one relay, he might be able to at least hook up one of his locator cards. Then Blaine would know where he was.

The first crate had avatar parts in it, but none of the ones that Kurt needed.

The second crate was empty. With the amount of packing that was in it, Kurt guessed it once held a piece of equipment the size of his vehicle mode's computer system. Possibly this was the one that Karr had been packed away in.

The third crate had the same packing material in it, but it wasn't empty.

Kurt was puzzled as he pulled out something that looked like a primitive version of his own system. A quick check showed that it was still functioning, but in some kind of sleep mode. Kurt knew from his own system that there was a button to reactivate the system from outside, but where would that be on this unit?

Kurt found the switch simply by trial and error. After a few false starts, one of the switched activated a red light on one end of the system. It bounced back and forth across the screen like a metronome.

Kurt almost dropped it when an urbane voice came out of the unit. "Michael, is that you? I- Oh! Hello."

Kurt realized that the box was addressing him. "Hello. My name is Kurt Hummel."

"Hello, Kurt," the unit told him. I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand, but you can call me Kitt."

Kitt? This was Kitt? "Wow. I had no idea that you were still in one piece. Dr Curtis assumed Karr had you destroyed."

"Karr," Kitt repeated, sounding thought-filled. "Well, that explains a lot. What does he want with you?"

"My body."

"That's rather unusual for Karr," Kitt noted, puzzled.

Kurt shook his head, assuming that if Kitt could tell he wasn't Mr Knight he must be able to see something even with just his basic system. "Not really. I'm kind of the same as you are. K.U.R.T. stands for Knight Ultimate Robotic Transport. When I'm not in this avatar mode, I have a vehicle mode just like you did."

"Fascinating," Kitt told him. "You mentioned April, is she the one that created you?"

"She did a lot of the preliminary work, but her protege actually built me," Kurt replied. "Well, this and my vehicle mode. Inside my head was human, at one point."

"Human?"

"It's a long story," Kurt sighed.

"Why don't you tell me about it," Kitt recommended. "If I know the whole story, I might have an idea of how to get out of here."

* * *

><p>Santana was muttering at her computer console when Artie came through the lab doors. "Damn it. Where the hell is he?"<p>

"Not what I wanted to hear," Artie announced, grimly but calm. "Kurt has not one, but two locator cards on him. Why aren't you picking them up?"

"I'm not the science of this operation," Santana reminded him hotly. "If I had to guess, I'd say Karr turned them off from the inside. Which means it's still on you for letting him get away. Hell, for letting him get into Kurt in the first place. Six million dollars and you couldn't spring for a firewall?"

Artie growled. This wasn't getting them anywhere, and Santana-

The monitor pinged behind them, conclusively ending the argument. "Was that Kurt?" Artie asked.

"It looks like the frequency you gave us," Santana admitted. "He- Damn it! The signal's gone again."

"How?" At Santana's irritated grimace, he nodded and considered the possibilities. "It could be two things. Kurt could be fighting for control, or Karr's back in his vehicle mode and it took him a couple of seconds to shut the locators off from the outside."

Santana turned back to her computer, trying to see if they could find out where the signal had come from. "Why would Karr bail? That's the only avatar he's got now."

"Maybe he's hoping Kurt will jump ship once he's got the chance." Santana and Artie turned to the door, startled. Blaine closed the door and walked up to them. He still looked wrecked, but the determination in his eyes was convincing.

Artie rather hated having to disagree with him. "It's not that easy. The avatar isn't hard wired to our mainframe the way his vehicle mode is. If Kurt doesn't have at least a vague idea of where he is, he might not be able to find his way back."

"He can't- He can't erase Kurt, can he?" Blaine asked, uneasily.

Artie thought about it, but couldn't come up with a clear answer. "If there is, it'll take time for him to figure it out. If we can find Kurt before then-"

"Lima," Santana exclaimed suddenly, spinning her chair to face them. "We can't pinpoint any closer than that, but at least we've got a starting point."

"I didn't think that Dr Hummel owned any property in Lima," Artie told them.

"Dr Hummel wouldn't bring Karr there all the way from Michigan unless there was a lab there," Blaine deduced. "Santana, have your guys check the area for anywhere that meets that criteria. If you can't find anything under his name, look for companies based out of Germany."

It was always a risk to just give Santana orders like that, but she was worried enough about Kurt that she just nodded. "Will do."

"Artie, we're going to Lima," Blaine announced. Apparently, he meant now because he turned around and strode out of the lab.

Artie had to jog to catch up. "Are you planning on taking Kurt's vehicle mode?"

"If Kurt can't find his way back, we'll just have to take the mountain to Mohammed," Blaine stated.

"I don't know if it's up to that long a highway drive without Kurt," Artie admitted. "It's never been tested."

"Not a problem," Blaine replied. "April gave me the lowdown on the remote unit Knight Industries used in her day. That should get us all there no problem."

* * *

><p>"So we determined that our avatars can't be destroyed by death glare," Kurt laughed as he recounted the story of Artie's 'funeral'. "That's something, at least."<p>

"Was it awkward reconnecting with your friends after all that?" Kitt asked. He sounded legitimately interested, for which Kurt was thankful.

Of course, they'd spent nearly an hour talking, and found they got along together quite well. "A little. It's hard to know what to say to them," Kurt admitted. "It doesn't help that the time's been a little weird. Sometimes it feels like I was locked in storage for years,but others it doesn't seem that long since we were all together in Glee."

"I understand completely." Because if anyone knew how disorienting that felt, it was Kitt.

And oddly enough, Karr. "It's too bad Blaine was preoccupied with Sebastian that night," Kurt chuckled. "You should have seen their faces."

"Kurt, I have a question," Kitt said. "You've mentioned Blaine Anderson before, and your face shows signs of sexual attraction. Are you and he a couple?"

Kurt was a little surprised to hear that, as he didn't know what signs he was giving off (if Artie had lied to him and he really DID still blush, Kurt was going to be very annoyed).

He was also a little uncomfortable. Kitt was from a different era, and Kurt didn't know how he would react to Kurt being gay. "Yeah, I guess we are," Kurt breezed. "I hope you don't have a problem with that, because I can always put you back in your crate."

Kitt took the quip for what it was, and laughed. "By no means. I was never programmed with any human prejudices."

Kurt smiled, but he suspected it didn't reach his eyes. "I miss him. I thought I finally had something with him, but it seems like there's always something coming against us."

"I still can't believe Karr wants to take this form from you," Kitt sighed, sounding very annoyed.

"He's not the friendliest guy around," Kurt reminded him.

"Kurt, I- I really don't want anything to happen to you," Kitt admitted.

"Neither do I," Kurt stated. "Unfortunately, Karr took the power relays going to my legs so I can't really walk anywhere."

"Hmm." Kitt was silent for a long time. Kurt waiting, because he had a feeling that Kitt was thinking about the problem. Kitt finally sighed. "I think I have an idea."

Kurt perked up immediately. "Really? Why do you sound so sad, then?"

Kitt chuckled dryly. "I'm not; it's just a little awkward offering you my parts. But I suppose it shouldn't be. If April's protege created you, then you're kind of a relative. Your computerized side, in any case."

Kurt was touched by the comment, but couldn't help but be concerned. "Parts?" The only power relays Kurt could see on Kitt were the main ones connecting Kitt's power core to his computer system.

"If April worked out the basics of your creation, my main relays SHOULD be compatible with yours," Kitt stated.

"Is that safe?" Kurt asked. He knew that his own systems could survive a complete loss of power, Kurt wasn't sure about how this older model worked.

"Of course," Kitt quickly answered. "Aren't your systems recoverable in case of a power loss?"

"Well yes." Kurt was silent for a moment, stunned by the offer. "I'd really appreciate that. I don't like to admit it, but Karr kind of scares me."

"Then it's best if you get out of here," Kitt determined, breezily. "Just bring me with you, and I'm sure April will be able to patch me up when we get back."

Kurt couldn't believe how calm Kitt was being about this. "I'd be freaking out in your position."

"I've been through an awful lot in my time," Kitt told him. "It's not much of a sacrifice for a good cause. I only have one request, though you may not like it."

Kurt frowned, worried. That sounded awfully final. "What is it?"

"If you get stopped on the way out of here, I want you to leave me behind," Kitt declared.

Kurt was horrified. "No! Why would you ask that?"

"I can't be sure of course, but I'm pretty sure Karr still hates me enough that he'll have me picked up before he goes after you. That might buy you a few more seconds."

"A few seconds won't do it," Kurt insisted.

"Well, if it happens that you can get away, but you need to leave me behind, I want you to know that I WANT you to take the opportunity."

"Well, I doubt that'll happen, so it's a moot point."

Kurt made a move for one of the power relays, but Kitt stopped him. "One moment. Before we head out there, I just wanted to say that I'm glad I got the chance to meet you, Kurt Hummel."

Kurt was able to give Kitt a real smile, this time. "I'm glad, too. April will be so excited when she finds out I rescued you."

"Until then." Kurt winced as the voice slowed to silence and the bouncing red light went out again. Hoping he hadn't just screwed everything up, he stood and put his shoulder against the door.

Breaking down the door was thankfully quieter than Kurt had been fearing. He looked around to see that he was in a hallway just outside the shop/garage Karr was in. That seemed to be the last place Kurt would find an exit, so he headed in the opposite direction.

Kurt briefly wondered if he'd gotten turned around when he walked into yet another big industrial room. But no, this wasn't Karr's shop it looked like some sort of hospital. The equipment he could see looked very medical, and there were two beds behind curtains. Each with a very distinct heart monitor indicating a living patient.

What the hell was his grandfather up to now?

Kurt knew he should just go, but he had to know. Clutching Kitt's system tighter to his chest, he approached one of the beds and pulled the curtain back.

Kurt felt like his heart stopped.

But he knew it hadn't. Because the heart monitor on the wall was still beeping merrily away.

And that was Kurt's own body on the bed.

Kurt couldn't move at first. How was this even possible. Carole had- She'd BURIED him. How could he be in the ground in Lima and also here?

Kurt hurried to the other bed, almost sure what he was going to find.

Oh god.

Oh god. "Dad."

Far from being stunned like before, Kurt couldn't stop his almost hysterical laughter. He didn't know how his grandfather had managed this, and he didn't care.

He had to go. He had to go find Blaine, and bring him back here. And they could get his dad out of here. His body too, he supposed though he didn't know what he was supposed to do with-

"Is someone there?" Dr Hummel's assistant Elizabeth, had heard someone laughing and had come to investigate.

Kurt ducked behind the one curtain, all too aware of how bad it would be if he was discovered here.

Kurt considered his options. He hated the idea of hurting anyone, but his best chance of escaping would be if he just knocked this woman out and ran for it. Not very gallant, but she'd be fine.

He had to get out of here, he just had to. Not just for himself, but now for Kitt and his dad, too.

Kurt quieted himself as much as he could, and crept closer. Silent. Like death.

Oh god. Don't think that.

Kurt was too nervous. He was making too much noise.

And now she'd heard him. And she was turning around.

Kurt raised an arm. Now, before she cries out.

You can do this, Kurt.

But then she turned around. And he saw her face.

And his arm dropped, seemingly boneless, to his side.

Oh god.

It couldn't be.

"Mom?"

(to be continued)

* * *

><p>I know, I have this obsession with bringing people back from the dead. Especially Kurt's mom. Sorry.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

I hope this chapter is okay. I've got this vague feeling like I'm not satisfied with it, but I can't come up with anything specific I don't like. If something bothers you, please leave it in a review and if I can make an improvement I can always reload the chapter (you can do this for any chapter if you'd like).

* * *

><p>Chapter Fourteen<p>

It was definitely an unusual sight to see Dr Bill Hummel climbing up into the cab of an eighteen wheeler. But Karr's associate had said that Karr needed them to talk, and the computer had apparently abandoned his new avatar for the time being. "What happened to the body we acquired for you?"

"We?" Karr sneered.

Bill sighed. Karr always had to be so difficult. "Can I assume from your deflection that things aren't going well?"

"On the contrary," Karr replied, suddenly all sunny again. "I've just had the most wonderful idea, that should solve both our problems."

"My only problem is what your avatar looks like," Bill countered. "What you do to its insides is none of my concern."

"It should be," Karr told him. "Mr Newman tells me you're trying to keep your grandson's corpse alive."

A flare of anger shot through Bill. He didn't know how Mr Newman found that out, but it was none of Karr's business. "My grandson is NOT dead," he declared.

Karr couldn't shrug, but the sound he made got the point across clearly. "Brainless, then. But as I've said, I have an idea."

Bill's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How could you possibly help me with Kurt?"

"I haven't found any way to erase the K.U.R.T. program," Karr admitted. "Even a complete power loss in his computer core wouldn't destroy it. Which is actually a bit of an improvement over my own systems; I'll have to upgrade at some point."

Bill wasn't interested in Karr's updates, he was interested in overhauling the avatar. "So what are you going to do?"

"You," Karr corrected, "are going to transfer the K.U.R.T. program to your own computers."

"I don't have the appropriate systems to house an artificial intelligence," Bill reminded him. "And it could take weeks to install something like that."

"No need," Karr told him. "The additional systems are only so the program can operate; it can be stored in you computer as is, indefinitely."

"And how does this help me?" Bill asked. "I hope you aren't suggesting-"

"Whatever else the K.U.R.T. program is, it is information," Karr insisted. "That is something your grandson's brain doesn't have at the moment. All you need to do is do the opposite of the transfer they did FROM his brain TO his brain."

Bill frowned, unconvinced. He'd already heard Elizabeth's concerns that Kurt was 'gone', for lack of a better term. But he didn't think that this avatar was the solution.

Still, it didn't hurt to check things out. "How long do you expect this to take?"

Karr definitely sounded like it was grinning now. "An hour or so to make certain Kurt's transfer doesn't end up with him somewhere else. Why don't you go tell your assistant the good news?"

* * *

><p>Elizabeth's eyes were wide, like she'd seen a ghost. Kurt could understand the reaction, as he was having the same one.<p>

Without warning though, her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "No. Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Kurt ached in ways he shouldn't be able to, on hearing her distrust. "I think you know who I am."

"You're that thing," she stated, her voice shaky but cold. "That thing they made with my son's memories."

"I'm not-" Kurt huffed, frustrated. He didn't have the time, or the philosophy, to explain. "Please. I know you don't believe me, and I don't have time to convince you. I just need you to keep quiet and let me get out of here."

"Why?"

Well, that was a damn good question. Kurt wasn't quite sure what to tell her so he turned the question back on her. "What do I have to do to convince you that I'm me?"

Elizabeth smirked at him the way he sometimes did. He'd forgotten he'd gotten it from her. "I don't suppose you have documentation confirming you have my son's soul."

"I didn't have time to grab it before Karr highjacked my body," Kurt quipped back.

Kurt's kidnapping was clearly news to her, and her eyes narrowed again. "Karr. I'm guessing that's our new guest. He brought you here against your will?"

"With Grandfather's collusion," Kurt grumbled. "I don't think the Christmas card I send him this year is going to be very nice."

Elizabeth was very troubled, and it seemed as though her initial doubts were waning. "I don't know-"

"I don't need you to believe me this minute," Kurt reminded her. "I just need to get away. Please. If you think there's even a possibility-"

"Elizabeth? Are you in here?"

Elizabeth turned to the door, suddenly concerned. "Behind the curtain, quickly," she whispered.

Kurt did as advised, and heard footsteps approaching. Hoping that his mother was indeed trying to hide him, he held still as he listened in on her conversation with his grandfather.

"I'm over here, Bill. What is it?"

Bill Hummel sounded incredibly pleased with himself. "I have good news, my dear. Once our guest finishes with his preliminary prep work, I'll have a template of the K.U.R.T. program to use to help restore Kurt's mind."

"I thought you said that that avatar wasn't Kurt." Doubt and suspicion in her voice, and Kurt hoped that his grandfather wasn't about to undo all the progress he'd made here.

"It's not," Bill assured her. "But it has data we can use. So that perhaps one day, it WILL be Kurt again."

"There's no other way?"

"I given it a lot of thought, and I think this one is best," he insisted. "I have some reading up of my own to do; I'll be in my study if you need me."

More footsteps, this time away. Kurt waited until he heard a door close before coming out.

The change in his mother was extraordinary. Far from being suspicious, she now looked as though Christmas and the Fourth of July were coming up at the same time. "Did you hear?"

"Yeah," Kurt sighed. "It sounds like I don't have much time to make myself disappear."

Elizabeth was shocked, a reaction Kurt didn't really understand. "What are you talking about? Don't you see what this means?"

"Yeah, it means Karr is going to find out any minute that I'm escaping," Kurt told her.

"You don't have to go," Elizabeth insisted. "Once your grandfather removes the program from this shell you're wearing, he can put you back in your real body. Everything will be fine again, and we can be a family."

Kurt was stunned. When he was trapped in the KI computer storage all he wanted was to be back in his old body again. And when he only had his vehicle mode there were times he wished he were human again, as well. But now that he had his avatar, he never thought about it any more. He liked how things were. And now that it was no longer an obstacle to being with Blaine, he was starting to grow accustomed to his vehicle mode, too. He didn't want to lose it.

And Blaine? God, what would Blaine think of this?

In the end though, there was only one answer. "Mom, my life is different now. But I'm really happy. And even if I wasn't, Karr is a dangerous nutcase. I'd rather not live at all if it means he gets his hands on this avatar."

Elizabeth's face fell. "Kurt..."

"Mom, do you remember when I was three?" Kurt persisted. "I asked for a pair of sensible heels for my birthday."

His mother's eyes widened at the confirmation of that memory. "Yes. I remember."

"I don't," Kurt said bluntly. "I only know from Dad telling me about it. What I remember is being six and going on a family outing to Dayton. I met a boy there, and I asked you if you'd be angry if I married him instead of a girl. Do you remember that?" Kurt hadn't thought about that in years, and didn't even remember the name of that boy with the wild, curly brown hair. But he remembered what his mother had told him.

Tears started falling from Elizabeth's face, and she nodded. Unable to speak.

"You said you'd love me no matter what," Kurt told her. "I need you to do that for me now. I met another boy. He loves me, even like this. Sometimes I think especially like this. This is who I am now." Kurt took a step towards her, and she flinched backwards. "Please," he begged. "Let me go. I'll bring help for you and them. Even Grandfather. But I have to go now, before Karr knows I'm gone."

Elizabeth turned away and was silent for a moment. Then she gestured to a door that was neither the one he (and his grandfather) had come through, or the one Dr Hummel had left through. "That will take you out onto a path," she explained. "There's a shed with a bike in it. Once you get to the road, turn right and it will lead you into town."

Kurt wanted to hug her, but knew that now wasn't the time. "Thank you. I'll be back soon."

* * *

><p>Kurt made it to the bike without incident. He made it to the road without incident. But he was all too aware that he didn't have a lot of time. At any moment Karr could discover that Kurt wasn't in the room he'd been left in. In fact, it might already have happened.<p>

He had to hurry. There wasn't a lot of time.

And then it seemed there was none at all.

There was a dull roar ahead of him. Kurt didn't know that Karr had gone on some kind of errand, but he must have. This road was too small to be a transit route.

And the semi bearing down on him was headed AWAY from town.

Kurt stopped his bike, deliberating his options. There was clearly no way he was outrunning a truck on this bike. He had a bit more strength in his legs than he would have if he were human, but even he had limits.

Was it possible to go off-road? It was early winter, and a thin layer of snow was covering the ruts and crevasses in the fields beside them. Riding a bike would be treacherous, but maybe walking? No, as the semi got closer, Kurt could see there was someone in the driver's seat. Mr Newman, no doubt.

Of course, there was also the possibility of going back. Could he do that? Sacrifice his principles for a second chance at seeing Blaine again?

The semi had clearly seen him now; it was slowing down.

Kurt tensed up, feeling the computer system nestled inside his jacket. There was no way he was handing Kitt over to Karr. No way he was rewarding Karr for attacking Artie, and killing Sebastian.

Kurt got off his bike as the semi came to a stop. He couldn't see Newman in the cab on account of the glare on the windshield, but Kurt assumed he'd be out in a moment.

There had to be a way out. Newman was just human, and if he could find some way to disable Karr-

To Kurt's surprise though, the second the semi stopped it backed up. Turning so that the back of the trailer was facing Kurt. Had he been mistaken? The truck in front of him didn't LOOK like the one he and Blaine had followed that one time.

And the back of the trailer was lowering to form a ramp, which was definitely different from what Kurt remembered.

Kurt gasped as the ramp came all the way down. Inside the trailer was his vehicle mode and, "Blaine!"

Adding to Kurt's surprise was the semi doors opening, to reveal Artie and April. "Kurt," Artie called out. "It's so great to see you, man."

"You scared me," Kurt scolded, though he was far too relieved to be angry. "I thought at first you were Karr."

"Sorry about that," April told him. "This is the old remote lab we used when I worked for the company."

"We were on our way to rescue you," Blaine stated, unable to keep the smile off his face. "We thought if we ran into Karr, this would at least give us a weight advantage."

Kurt couldn't wait any more; he ran up the ramp and jumped into Blaine's waiting arms. "I missed you."

Blaine hugged Kurt tightly, letting go only because he felt the metal block in between the two of them. "What's this?"

Kurt excitedly pulled Kitt's system out from under his jacket, turning back to Artie and April who were following him up the ramp. "You guys all have to see this. It's Kitt; I found him in the room they were holding me in."

April practically sprinted up to him when she heard that. "Kitt? He's alive?"

"Yeah, he's the reason we got away," Kurt explained. "Karr had the power relays to my legs and locators taken out. Kitt volunteered his own relays so we could escape."

Kurt was puzzled by the fact that Artie and April both seemed more alarmed than excited by his story. He guessed it had something to do with when April took Kitt, and Artie lifted up Kurt's shirt exposing the hack job done to his stomach. "I'm going to kill that thing," he grumbled. "I've got some extra relays in here. I'll take those ones out and we'll see if we can bring Kitt back."

Kurt didn't like how tentative Artie sounded about that, but he was distracted again with the work being done on him. It was chilling to feel his legs go dead again, so he was glad that Artie made quick work of replacing the relays. It was such a relief when he could feel them again he almost missed the distinctive feeling of his locator chips powering up. "Oh, that's a lot better."

Artie still seemed grim, though. "I need to help April with this," he stated. "Blaine, can you help Kurt seal this cut. You just brush the sealant on the edges and fit them together."

"No problem." At least Blaine seemed just as puzzled as Kurt was.

As he and Blaine went to work, Kurt filled him in on the other momentous discovery he'd made. "I found out what my grandfather is working on. It's my dad. He's alive."

Blaine almost dropped the sealant. "Seriously? How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Kurt admitted. "My grandfather's an ass, but he's pretty brilliant. My dad's in a coma, but he's going to recover. Blaine... my mom was there, too."

Blaine did drop the sealant this time, in his rush to give Kurt another hug. "Kurt, that's amazing. She must have been so happy to see you."

Kurt made a face. "Not exactly," he replied. "She doesn't like the avatar any more than my grandfather does." Kurt picked up the sealant and set to work applying it to the edges of the cuts Newman had made.

Blaine gently fitted the pieces of skin together and held them while they dried. "I'm so sorry, Kurt."

Kurt shook his head, lowering his shirt when it became clear the sealant was holding. "She's alive. Anything else can wait." Kurt turned away to look at the other workspace. "Artie, don't you have Kitt's relays in yet?" It was odd that Kitt would still be silent.

But then he saw April's face. And the concern on Artie's. And he knew something had gone wrong.

So had Blaine. "Artie, what happened?"

"It's- I suspected this as soon as Kurt told us what happened," Artie told him. "Our AI systems work the opposite of the way normal computers do. Without power-"

No. Artie was not saying what Kurt thought he was saying. Kitt couldn't be- "No. My system-"

"-Is new," Artie interrupted.

"Your vehicle mode was the first one that could survive a power loss. With Kitt and Karr, the program – the personality – it just gets dumped." April was barely holding it together. It was like someone had died.

Died.

No.

Oh, no. "You're saying that Kitt is... gone?"

Kurt could hear Blaine inhale in horror, but his eyes were on Artie. Who paused, and then gave the slightest of nods. "I'm sorry. We tried everything we could think of to reboot K.I.T.T.'s system. The data just isn't there anymore."

Kurt sagged in shock. "It's my fault."

Blaine made a sound next to him, like he was in pain. "Kurt..."

Kurt turned to see that his boyfriend was crying in sympathetic agony. "I should never have taken his power relays. I as good as killed him myself. And told him everything would be alright while I was doing it."

As sad as April was, she shook her head determinedly at that. "Kurt, Kitt knew his systems as well as you know yours. He knew that he was sacrificing himself when he made that offer."

"But he said-" Kitt said that he was glad to have met Kurt. He was saying goodbye, in a way that Kurt would misinterpret. Because Kurt wanted everything to be okay so bad, he didn't listen.

"Kurt." Blaine offered his arms again, and Kurt fell into them. Screaming in frustration, guilt, and grief.

"Why?" he asked. "Why would Kitt do that?"

"You told him who you were." Blaine couldn't possibly know that, but it wasn't a question.

Kurt nodded. "He said-" And then Kurt got it. "He said I was like family to him."

April nodded, a small smile appearing on her teary face. "Of course, he'd feel that way."

"He knew what he was doing, Kurt," Blaine insisted. "He sacrificed himself to save you. And he didn't tell you, because he knew you wouldn't let him."

God, Kurt had never felt so badly, or so grateful, in any of his existences.

But now wasn't the time for that. Kurt had been given a second chance (or more properly, fourth), and he wasn't going to waste it. "I have to go back."

"Of course," Blaine agreed. "Your parents-"

Kurt looked up at him. Blaine no doubt expected Kurt to look shattered. And part of him was.

The rest was pure fury. "No- Well, I mean yes. But not just for them. I've had enough of this, Blaine.

"Karr isn't living 24 hours past Kitt," Kurt declared. "I swear it."

(to be continued)

And if anyone is curious, yeah the boy Kurt remembers meeting was in fact Blaine. I'm just a sucker for kid!Klaine.


	15. Chapter 15

Wow. I had family come up from Australia this week, and I didn't think I'd get back to the story this fast. And I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. But then I've always been better at action sequences than the emotional stuff. Thanks again for all of everyone's kind reviews.

And my apologies for the first scene. I don't know where that came from.

* * *

><p>Chapter Fifteen<p>

"Where is he?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as Mr Newman stormed into the lab. As much as she adored the possibility that she might soon have her Kurt back with her, she didn't trust the mysterious Mr Karr (whom she had not yet met). And she downright hated Mr Newman. "Where is who? What are you even doing in here?" she asked, irritated.

"The avatar is gone," Newman growled. "It couldn't have slipped out past Karr, and this is the only other way off site. You had to have seen him."

Elizabeth shook her head angrily. It was no wonder that Kurt (if that's who he indeed was) didn't feel safe here, if this is what he'd had to endure. "I don't have time for this," she declared. "Mr Newman, I understand that my father-in-law has invited you here for the time being, but I'd appreciate-"

"What's over there?" Newman interrupted, pointing at the two screened off beds.

"Those are my patients," Elizabeth told him. Newman turned his back on her and headed over to them. "Get back here!"

Newman pulled back one of the curtains, revealing Kurt's pale motionless body. "How do I know that this is your son, and not the avatar?" he snarled.

"Any deficiencies you might have in reasoning are none of my concern," she replied coldly. "That's my son, and he is in a very delicate condition. Leave him alone." She'd never before bothered herself with any of Bill's dealings outside of what he was doing for Burt and her son. But she'd be damned if she was going to risk Kurt's life by letting this idiot manhandle him.

"We'll see about that," Newman snapped. He grabbed Kurt's body by the neck and pulled it up, reaching for the blanket covering his chest.

Elizabeth grabbed a scalpel off a nearby table and grabbed Newman by the hair.

Before he could respond, she ran the blade across his throat, severing both the carotid artery and the jugular vein.

"I told you," she stated as Newman released his hold and dropped to the floor, "to stay away from my son."

* * *

><p>Kurt looked up from Kitt's deactivated system as Blaine hung up his cell phone. "What did the police say?"<p>

Blaine sighed unhappily. "That they're not equipped to handle something like this. They're talking about bringing the National Guard in."

Artie shook his head. "If that happens, Karr is going to end up in a government warehouse next to the Ark of the Covenant," he quipped sardonically.

"Only to reappear in another twenty years," Kurt grumbled. "No doubt with a brand new flying-saucer body." At least, that seemed to be how their luck was running. Waiting for government help was clearly undesirable.

"I don't know what else to do," Blaine admitted. "We came here to sneak you out of here, Kurt. We're not really equipped to lay siege to your grandfather's villa."

"April, do you remember how Mr Knight dealt with Karr the last two times?" Artie asked.

April jumped, startled out of her thoughts. Like Kurt, she'd been holding vigil over Kitt's remains since they'd failed to reactivate him. "I'm sorry, what?"

Kurt went over to her and risked giving her a hug. "I know. I miss him too, and I didn't know him nearly as long as you did. But we need your help. This might be our best shot at stopping Karr before he hurts anyone else."

April accepted the hug, nodding into Kurt's chest. "It's two separate issues," she told him. "Not only stopping Karr, but also the semi he's been rebuilt as." April pulled back, turning to study the K.U.R.T. unit in more detail. "Your vehicle mode is faster and more manoeuvrable than Karr, though. If we can roll the trailer, we should have him."

"So we need to lure him out onto the highway?" Blaine asked, concerned. "That didn't end too well for us the last time."

"Last time you needed to get close to Karr," Artie reminded him. "That won't be happening this time."

"I can handle Karr," Kurt declared. He turned to Blaine, his determination coloured by affection now. "Do you think you can get my parents out?"

"There's no way I'm letting you deal with Karr by yourself," Blaine replied firmly.

"April and I can handle your parents," Artie assured them. "I'll need half an hour tops to load your dad up in here."

"There's a lot of equipment to move," Kurt told him. "And..." He didn't really want to bring this up, but he didn't want to put Artie in danger for lack of information. "There's something else. It's not just my dad they have in there. It's... my... body, too."

Artie's eyes widened in shock. "Excuse me?"

"Oh my god," Blaine gasped. "Kurt, that's incredible."

"Incredibly awkward," Kurt countered. "It's just lying there, on full life support, and I'm supposed to be grateful or something. But my mom probably won't leave without it. So we're going to have to take Karr out permanently if this is going to work."

"Kurt can you show me the replay of your encounter with Karr on the highway?" April asked.

Kurt hopped into his vehicle mode, and Blaine joined him. Artie leaned through the window April wasn't occupying while Kurt called up the information. It took less time than he thought it would to flip between avatar and vehicle mode, and back again. Blaine smiled appreciatively. "You're getting good at that."

Kurt smiled back while the data played out on his vehicle mode's main monitor. They were silent for a while, until April reached down to point at the screen. "There."

Kurt paused the playback, and examined the energy reading she'd gestured to. "That looks kind of like my power core."

Artie nodded. "You're right. They must have built the truck engine to the same specs they stole from us. That's a non-nuclear reactor, but if we can get it to overload it should destroy both Karr and his vehicle mode."

"That's not going to be easy," Blaine reminded him. "Karr's engine looks as armoured as Kurt's is."

"That's your problem," Artie replied. "I need to adapt the firewalls on my personal system at the lab, to make sure Karr doesn't bail out and try to take over one of us."

"I'll give you a hand with that," April volunteered, following Artie to the front of the trailer.

Blaine leaned into Kurt. "Are you okay?"

Kurt gave Blaine a soft, but genuine smile. "I'll be fine. We can mourn later, right? Besides, I know this was the last straw for me, but I only knew Kitt a few hours. April had known him a lot longer. And Sebastian? Blaine, you've known him since you were kids. I want to stop Karr as much for you as I do for me." Sebastian's memorial service wasn't scheduled until the beginning of January, owing to the difficulty of the Smythe family getting plane tickets during the holiday season. When it finally happened though, Kurt wanted to be able to say to Sebastian's parents that the monster that murdered their son had been destroyed.

Blaine's eyes were watering, but he returned Kurt's smile. "Well then, we just need to figure out how to get through a foot of tempered steel."

"Actually," Kurt told him. "I may have an idea for that."

* * *

><p>Blaine hit the brakes as they came up to the villa that Dr Hummel was using as his lab. Kurt (in a rare moment) wasn't controlling the vehicle mode at all, as he was about to be far too busy. Blaine looked over to see April and Artie in the Knight Industries semi, the trailer left behind at a safe distance as it would do them no good if THEY were the ones that rolled.<p>

Kurt looked over from the passenger seat. "Are you ready?"

"I think so." Blaine tried to feel as certain as he sounded. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Oh sure," Kurt smiled viciously. "What goes around, comes around. Right?"

Someone must have spotted them inside, for the garage door opened, and Karr's vehicle mode appeared in the entrance. His external speakers blared. "You really are fools. Yes, I'm going to kill you all, but there's no reason for you to rush towards your own demises."

Karr floored it, driving not at Kurt's vehicle mode but at the semi. "I guess after last time, he doesn't consider us a threat," Blaine noted.

"Well let's give him a reason to notice us," Kurt stated. He brought up the programming he'd had Artie put in for this little adventure and turned on his own external speakers.

And although Kitt's personality was gone, his voice rang through the speakers. "That's enough, Karr. Time to settle things the way they were supposed to be. You and I!"

"I hate using his voice like that," Kurt muttered. "But it's necessary."

"April's right," Blaine insisted. "He'd love this one last chance to get at Karr."

And it seemed to have worked. Karr immediately stopped chasing Artie and April, and turned towards Kurt and Blaine. Blaine hit the gas pedal, easily dodging Karr's charge. Blaine came close enough to Karr's vehicle mode to open fire through Blaine's open window with his pistol. It didn't do any damage, but then it wasn't supposed to.

This was just a diversion.

Karr slammed on his brakes again, trying to keep up with Blaine's rapidly changing position. "I am really going to enjoy hurting you, Kitt," Karr snarled. "Perhaps this time you'll stay gone."

"I don't think he knew he had Kitt," Blaine said. It was the only thing that made sense, since April couldn't believe Karr would leave Kitt operational. Especially in a room he'd put Kurt in. Had that been Sebastian's final secret?

Would it prove to be Sebastian's final revenge?

"He's definitely distracted now," Kurt stated. "Artie, do it now."

Artie rammed the back of the trailer with their own semi. Karr didn't roll, but the trailer was heavily damaged. While Karr was no doubt focused on what was happening behind him, Blaine drove past Karr's cab again and fired. But not with his gun.

The flare Blaine fired shattered the glass of Karr's driver's side window and blanketed the cab in blinding light. "Kurt," Blaine shouted. "Do it now."

But Kurt had already exited his avatar mode.

Blaine saw the exact second Kurt jumped into Karr's operating system, and the vehicle mode started driving out of control. Blaine had to make two quick course corrections to avoid the now blinded and distracted Karr.

Karr swerved left and right, as though trying to buck Kurt out of the computer through sheer force.

Blaine gasped in horror as Karr turned towards the villa, and started to roll.

It seemed though, that Karr had in fact succeeded in throwing Kurt off. Kurt came back to awareness in his avatar mode, and Blaine was sure he heard a thump and grunt when it happened. He opened his eyes, excitedly. "Reactor is on overload, and I locked out the controls with Artie's firewall."

Which was good news, but Karr had just slammed into the building Kurt's entire family was in. "Oh my god," Blaine breathed.

Kurt turned to see what Blaine was looking at, and his eyes widened in horror.

But there was nothing they could do, as it was going to take both of them watching the system to make sure Karr didn't slip into either the vehicle mode or the avatar mode.

All they could do was sit helplessly as the burning truck caught the entire villa on fire.

In a few moments though, Karr's computer system vanished into a pile of molten steel and plastic. Now certain there was no chance of remote access, Kurt got out of his vehicle mode and dashed into the burning building.

Blaine went to follow, but was held back by both Artie and April. "You can't go in there," April insisted. "It's not safe for you."

"I can't just leave him in there!" Blaine shouted.

"You'd never survive in there," Artie declared. "I'll help Kurt."

And he dashed into the burning building. Leaving unanswered the question of, if Blaine couldn't survive in there, how could Kurt's family?

* * *

><p>Kurt reached the medical lab to find that, as expected, his mother was staying with her patients. "Mom, you've got to get out of here. I'll carry dad for you."<p>

Elizabeth turned to face him, looking stricken. "Take him, please. But I'm not leaving you here."

Kurt rolled his eyes, the frustration he'd been feeling over the events of the last few hours starting to boil over. "Mom, I'm right here. I get that you're attached to the little thing that puked on you when I was a baby, but that's NOT ME."

"I don't expect you to understand, Kurt," Elizabeth snipped. "But I'm staying."

Artie burst into the room while she was speaking. "No need. I've got Kurt's body."

"Thank you," Kurt sighed in relief.

But Elizabeth wasn't having that. "You don't understand. Burt isn't on life support anymore, but Kurt's body is. We barely got him back the last time. If I unhook him again, there's really no coming back from that."

Kurt shook his head, distressed. He couldn't have just gotten his mother back, only to lose her again. "I can't leave you here."

Elizabeth looked from her son on the bed, to the son standing before her. Clearly torn. She wiped the tears from the eyes of Kurt's avatar. "Kurt..." she pleaded.

"Look, I'm sorry you guys," Artie told them both. "But we just don't have the time for this." And before anyone could object, he grabbed Elizabeth and threw her over his shoulder.

Kurt did the same for his dad, and followed Artie out the other door (which was already starting to burn). Artie must have been in a fair amount of discomfort, from the way Elizabeth was kicking and hitting him. "Let me down. KURT!"

Without thinking about it, Kurt offered his mother his hand. She seemed shocked by it, but instinctively took it. And while her eyes still glistened with tears, she stopped struggling.

Outside, Blaine and April had brought their rides up to the door. Artie set Elizabeth down, and Kurt immediately loaded Burt into Artie's arms. "Can you help them into the semi's cab?" Kurt asked. "I really need to try to help... well, me."

But before he could turn around, the front of the building collapsed. Kurt looked like he was going to go in anyways, but Blaine stopped him. "Kurt it's too late."

Kurt's eyes were briefly wide, and older than Blaine had ever seen. But Kurt calmed, and nodded. "You're right. We've got enough of the past back. Time to take care of the future."

* * *

><p>Kurt looked up from the fashion magazine he'd been studying when Elizabeth stepped back into the waiting room. It was an old magazine, but it was new to him. "How's dad?"<p>

"Actually, I think all the excitement might have helped him a little," Elizabeth noted, sounding a little befuddled. "We gave him oxygen, and his brain activity is improved from this morning."

"That's great news," Blaine stated.

Kurt accepted hugs from Blaine, April, and even Artie. Kurt looked back at his mother, who was smiling softly. "I know this isn't how you wanted things to turn out, but I really think we lucked out here."

"Maybe we did," Elizabeth allowed.

Santana strode up to the group as they basked in their victory. As usual though, Santana looked pretty annoyed. "Hey. Just got through talking to the fire fighters."

Kurt and Elizabeth both turned towards her, concerned. "Was there any sign of Bill?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nope. Near as they can figure, he got himself out of there. Somehow."

"He's a very resourceful man," April noted.

"Agreed." Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.

Kurt wasn't so pleased though. "What about my body? Am I having a burial or a cremation?"

Santana gave him a tight smile. "See, that's the thing. They didn't find it."

"You're joking," Kurt gasped.

"Trust me, my jokes are hilarious," Santana told him. "This isn't one of them. They think Dr Hummel got it out of there. Same somehow."

Kurt sighed. He didn't really want his original body dead, but this was going to continue to make things awkward for him. "That's just great," he grumbled.

(to be continued)

* * *

><p>This was originally the end, but we're not quite done here yet. Stay tuned.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry, this chapter is so late in coming. I've been kind of cranky regarding Glee since the season finale and have let myself get distracted with Pilot Season. But my irritation with RIB shouldn't get taken out on the poor people of Knight Industries (and the people watching them), so here we go again.

* * *

><p>Chapter Sixteen<p>

It was a much smaller ceremony than the one announcing the creation of the Knight Industries avatar program; just the development team, the Hudson family, Kurt, Blaine, and the board of directors. But there were no hidden agendas, which meant on the surface it would be far more successful (Despite a bulletin explaining the reason for the avatars' supposed malfunction, KI stock was only now starting to rebound, two weeks later).

Kurt stood in the lab before Dr Bonnie Barstow.

And became a person again.

"Congratulations Kurt," Barstow announced, as she handed over the paperwork the government had given her. "This is a new birth certificate, with your original date of birth. Passport, driver's licence, and of course your Knight Industries ID card. Artie doesn't need anything reissued, so he can hang on to the ones he has." Everyone else in the room applauded them.

They were all perfectly normal documents, that people everywhere didn't even spare a thought for. But Kurt found his eyes watering as he took them. "Thank you so much. I've been waiting for today for so long, I can't believe it's finally here."

"You've more than earned them honey," Carole told him. She hugged him, as did Rachel.

"This is so exciting," Rachel enthused.

Finn however, was pouting as he examined Kurt's passport. "This is so unfair. How do you manage to look like you in these pictures? I look like a terrorist."

"It's funny," Artie told him. "Kurt and I may look like we used to, but I made just enough adjustments to our bone structures so that we can't take bad pictures."

"Oh my," Rachel gasped. "I think I'd rather have that than super strength."

"Artie told me you all have plans for lunch," Barstow stated. "So I won't keep you. After everything we've gone through, I think some time off is in order."

"You're more than welcome to come with us," Blaine said.

"Thank you," she replied. "But April and I are heading to the cemetery this afternoon. Wanted to share the good news with Michael and Kitt." After some discussion, they'd decided to lay Kitt's processor to rest next to where Mr Knight had been buried all those years ago. The memorial had been only a few days ago, and while it had been small, it was clear Kitt had touched all their lives very deeply.

Kurt gave her a hug, which was kind of odd for a company chair person but Barstow returned it warmly. "Thank you so much for everything," Kurt told her.

They said their goodbyes, and Blaine grabbed Kurt, spinning him in the air. "Let's get to the restaurant," Blaine declared. "I've got plans for you later."

Kurt winced a little. "Actually, I was going to see my parents for a couple of hours. Sorry."

Blaine shook his head, genially. "Don't be. Just drop me off at home, and I'll have everything ready for later."

Kurt smiled. Blaine clearly had something big for him. And if all went well, Kurt would have something big for him, too. "You won't regret this. I promise."

* * *

><p>Kurt looked down at the still, quiet body lying in front of him, and frowned. The happiness of the morning, and lunch, now seemed a lifetime away. "So what do you think?" he asked his mother. "Am I crazy for even thinking this?"<p>

"I don't know," Elizabeth admitted honestly. "I know they say a body isn't dead until it's room temperature, but I doubt this is what they had in mind."

Because it was Sebastian lying there. It had been cold the night he died, cold enough that the body was frozen when it was found. Since then, the body had been in a freezer unit in the morgue. There hadn't been any reason to move it, on account of the funeral even now being nearly a week away. And there hadn't been time to move it, as although Blaine was supposed to have the body cremated they'd been too busy dealing with Karr to attend to it.

But since the body had been frozen all that time, Kurt had asked his mother if there was any hope of reviving him. Elizabeth was more than willing to make an attempt, but she wasn't a doctor or a scientist. "If your grandfather hadn't run off, maybe he'd be able to come up with something. As it is, I can keep the body alive but I don't have the expertise to bring him back."

Kurt sighed. He was hoping to have good news to tell Blaine when he got home. "Is there enough hope to be worth postponing his funeral?"

It was an indication of just how unusual Kurt's life was, that his mother was actually considering his question. "I don't think that should be your decision," she suggested. "It's not easy, watching your child lay there year after year, wondering if they'll ever open their eyes again."

"You think I should tell his parents and let them handle it?" Kurt asked.

"I managed, because I didn't have anywhere else to go," Elizabeth stated. "And even then..."

She trailed off, and Kurt looked up at her, concerned. "You wish you hadn't." It should have been a shock. It should have been insulting. But despite the fact that it was him, and that it wasn't just him, he couldn't help but feel like she'd made a far greater commitment to the Hummel family than she'd needed to.

Elizabeth let her eyes drop, guilty. "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay," Kurt insisted. "Tell me."

"I love you Kurt, so much," Elizabeth declared. "And I'm starting to get used to having you like this. But Burt..."

"You don't love him any more," Kurt finished. He wasn't really surprised, as he'd seen the way she looked at him. Kurt's body had still been her son, but Burt was just a patient now.

Elizabeth winced. "Kurt..."

Kurt shook his head, calmly. "It's probably for the best. You and Dad were over a long time ago." And while that was technically true for Burt and Carole as well, Kurt had also seen how Carole had been since they'd brought Burt back. She still loved him.

"You don't mind?" she asked.

"I'd mind if you didn't love ME anymore," Kurt told her, with a smile. "I'll get used to this."

Elizabeth rounded the bed and hugged him. "I really do love you, you know."

Kurt closed his eyes, enjoying something he never thought he'd have again. "I know."

* * *

><p>Kurt arrived home to find that Blaine had transformed it. There were candles everywhere, and Kurt was sure that Blaine would have had to have emptied several flower shops for all the blossoms strewn across the room. Mercedes' newest compilation was playing, probably because it was the only thing that had gotten released this last year that Kurt actually liked. Kurt mused that maybe Sebastian was right about Kurt having Blaine's 'lame taste in music'.<p>

Which reminded him, was Kurt going to ruin the mood with work, or just go with the flow?

"Hey there, handsome." Blaine entered the room with a big smile on his face, black boxer briefs low on his hips. And nothing else.

Anyone else would have given up and forgotten about Sebastian, but Kurt decided he wanted to get the discussion over with, so he didn't have it lurking in the back of his head. He gave Blaine a quick kiss before sitting down on the couch. "Hey. Everything looks great. But I need to talk to you before we get into anything else."

Blaine was a little surprised, but nodded and sat down too. "What did you need to talk about?"

"Sebastian."

Blaine winced. "Have they been calling you to pick up his body for cremation?" he asked. "I know they stopped calling me a couple of days ago. But I didn't think they even had your number."

"Actually, I talked to them about it about the same time," Kurt admitted. "That's probably why they stopped calling."

Blaine gave Kurt a sad smile. "Thank you for doing that, but you need to protect me from that. I'll go down tomorrow morning and make arrangements to have Sebastian... you know."

Kurt did know what Blaine meant, and didn't want to push him to actually say the word 'cremation'. Especially since it might not be necessary. "Blaine, I talked to my mother today. About Sebastian. It's kind of a long shot, but she gave me all the information she had on where my grandfather might be. If we can find him-"

Blaine sat up, shocked. "Your mother thinks she might be able to revive Sebastian?"

"I know, it sounds like science fiction at this point," Kurt stated. "But even if it can't be done, I'd really like to try and find my grandfather. Just so we know we've tried everything."

"Would he do it for us?" Blaine asked warily. "He doesn't exactly like either of us."

"I thought about that," Kurt replied. "I think maybe if we appeal to his vanity, we might be able to goad him into giving it a shot."

Blaine collapsed back onto the couch, stunned. "I- This is unbelievable. Where does your mother think Dr Hummel might be?"

"I know for a fact he didn't leave the country," Kurt declared. Dr Barstow had guaranteed that that wouldn't be happening. So it was just a matter of closing in on him. "Mom's best guess is that he has a place in New York City that he's holed up in."

Blaine had another smile for him, then. "Well, that works out well for us," Blaine admitted. "Because as you know, New Years Eve is the day after tomorrow. Since we've got some time off, I wanted us to go to Time Square to see the ball drop. We could go sooner, and check out some of your mother's leads."

"That sounds like a great idea." Kurt went to stand up, but Blaine pulled him back down on the couch. "What?"

"Kurt at this point, I don't think another night is going to make much of a difference," Blaine decided. "We haven't had enough time together since I got you back from Karr. And I want to spend tonight with the man I love."

Kurt lowered his eyes, so overcome with emotion that he was a little shy for it. "If you're sure, that's actually my preference, as well."

Kurt looked up as the music changed. Blaine had the remote in hand, turning the sound system to an old Katy Perry tune. And Kurt could see on the control that the vocals had been muted, which meant either Blaine wanted to serenade Kurt, or he didn't want to listen to the words while they made out.

Blaine put the remote down, took Kurt's hand, and started to sing. "Before I met you, I was all right. But it was kind of lonely; you brought me to life. Now every February, you'll be my Valentine, Valentine."

Blaine pulled Kurt to his feet, and they danced while Blaine continued to sing. "Let's go all the way tonight. No regrets; just love. We can dance until we die. We'll be young, we'll be young forever!"

While Blaine sang about "Living a teenage dream," Kurt considered what he had just said. Kurt really would be young forever, and after some discussion they'd agreed that eventually Blaine would need to make KI the same deal Kurt and Artie had. The just couldn't decide when it would be best to do that.

Blaine had jokingly said he wanted to get it over with while he was still young and firm, which Kurt laughed at because out of all the things Artie thought of when he designed the avatars, he doubted sagging was one of them.

Honestly, it scared Kurt a little to think of Blaine dying. For Blaine it was an academic exercise, he hadn't had to stand in front of his own grave the way Kurt had. Blaine getting an avatar mode of his own was a nice idea for the future, but something Kurt didn't want to hurry along.

"I know I've mentioned this before, but I love your voice," Kurt noted.

"You have a fantastic voice too," Blaine countered. It made Kurt's emotions swell, because he knew that not everyone cared for his counter-tenor.

"Thank you. Just think, if it hadn't been for the accident, you and I might have faced each other in show choir competitions."

"Oh no," Blaine assured him. "I was lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers. Trust me, the second your name came up, I'd have made sure I had you. In every sense of the word."

It was a lovely thought, but Kurt was more than satisfied with his life the way it was now. Kurt leaned forward, and they were kissing again. Blaine nuzzled into Kurt's neck, singing again. "I've finally found you, my missing puzzle piece. I'm complete."

Kurt was still incredibly low on suitable tops, so it didn't take Blaine long until he had Kurt's chest bare and was running kisses down it. "I don't think I'll ever get used to how good that feels."

"And just think," Blaine chuckled, the sound sending shivers through Kurt's skin. "If you ever do, I'll just have Artie fine-tune your nervous system again."

"Well in that case," Kurt suggested, "maybe we should wait until I bore you sexually before we start looking into an avatar for you."

Blaine purred as he kissed down Kurt's stomach. "In that case, it won't be happening for a very," he unbuttoned Kurt's pants, "very," and lowered the zipper, "VERY," Kurt's pants and underwear were down around his ankles now, "long time."

* * *

><p>Dr Bill Hummel locked the door of what was, on the outside, a simple brownstone. Nicely hidden away, even Elizabeth didn't know it was here. The brownstone had excellent lighting, a living room large enough to host a small party, once he got his legal situation straightened out, and upstairs there was once a library large enough that Hummel had had it turned into a lab space.<p>

The lab space where his grandson's body was currently housed.

It had been a near thing, getting Kurt out of the fire. He'd needed to unhook the entire computer system built into Kurt's life support, and Kurt had been legally dead again for another fifteen minutes. Of course, the last time Kurt had been gone for almost 36 hours so in comparison this wasn't so bad.

He put away the provisions he'd bought, and went up to what he was calling Kurt's room. In a way, this was better than the lab he'd had Kurt's body in earlier. It was less of a hospital, and Bill hoped that having him in more domestic circumstances would help acclimatize Kurt.

The only downside was that both Bill's son and Burt's wife were now likely to be turned against him in a very short period of time.

Still, Bill had a new plan to get Kurt back, and that would surely win them over again.

It was funny, because when he'd first brought Kurt here, Bill had thought he'd gone back to square one. Kurt's neurons had suffered yet another lack of oxygen, on top of the one that had already seemingly erased his mind. Elizabeth was gone, as was April Curtis. But then when he set the life support system up again, and Kurt's body was again stabilized, Bill got a pleasant surprise.

There was a brain pattern reading in his computer system. Bill didn't know how Karr had done it (since from what Bill understood the machine that looked like his grandson was still functional), but apparently Karr had in fact made a pattern of Kurt's mind for Bill to use.

Such a reliable machine. Not that Bill was sentimental about equipment.

Bill had been working on how to translate the computer patterns back into neural patterns and he think he was finally ready. After lunch, definitely.

Bill leaned over and gently ruffled Kurt's hair, knowing that this might be the last time Kurt would allow it. "Not long now, grandson. I know what I have to do."

(to be continued)

* * *

><p>I'm feeling a little indecisive right now. As much as I'd like to bring Sebastian back, it just feels like it's too late at this point. It feels like a cheat. Do you agree? I'm open to receive votes in your reviews right up until I post the chapter dealing with Sebastian's final fate (and that will be a while, Kurt and Blaine have one HECK of a mess coming up). Please send in your opinion of the matter, and any justifications you might have. Thank you in advance.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

This is a little shorter than usual, but you'll see when you get there why I ended it where I did. And for those of you who haven't reviewed yet, there's still time to get your say in regarding Sebastian. Thank you so much to those of you who've already commented.

Additional note: although 10 West 84th Street is a real address, it's not a brownstone. It's actually a school. Just thought that was interesting.

* * *

><p>Chapter Seventeen<p>

Finn and Rachel were established in their house in Ohio for the duration of Rachel's Christmas to New Years break, so when they found out Kurt and Blaine were going to go to New York they immediately offered the use of their apartment. Which turned out to be really helpful, as getting a hotel room at the last minute proved to be just as hard as getting plane tickets. So they drove to New York City in Kurt's vehicle mode, and pulled up to the apartment just as day broke.

Kurt woke Blaine up, who murmured. "Nice to not have to stop for anything."

"Nice to have you fully rested," Kurt countered with a kiss. "What do you want to do first?"

"What I want is to spend the day leading up to New Years Eve in bed with my handsome boyfriend," Blaine sighed playfully. "But I think we should concentrate on that phone list your mom gave us."

"Santana gave me a list of properties that fall under the criteria you set up when you were looking for me," Kurt told him. "Maybe we should split up and check them both."

Blaine made a face, clearly not liking the idea. "I don't know if either of us should be running around the city by ourselves."

"Well, I don't think YOU should be running around by yourself," Kurt teased. "I'm pretty sure I'm safe out there." Which was true; Kurt and Artie had sat down one day to figure out how durable their avatars actually were. And unless you had a gun and were a really lucky shot, the avatars weren't going down.

Not that it wouldn't hurt like hell in the interim.

Rather than be irritated, Blaine actually chuckled a bit at that. "Well, if I'm going to be without you for the rest of the day, I want to at least have breakfast with you first."

"I think we can manage that," Kurt told him. "How about breakfast at Tiffany's?"

"I was meaning to ask someone about that," Blaine admitted. "Do they actually SELL breakfast at Tiffany's, or do you have to buy it somewhere else and just eat it there?"

* * *

><p>Elizabeth Hummel was going over Burt's chart when she heard someone come in behind her. She turned, and her shoulders slumped just a little. It was Carole Hudson; KI board member and Elizabeth's husband's most recent squeeze. "Hello, Mrs Hudson."<p>

"Carole, please," Carole told her. "How is Burt doing?"

Elizabeth cracked a small smile. After a few days of seeing Carole hovering over Burt's bedside, it was clear why Kurt wasn't too bothered by Elizabeth's admission that she didn't love her husband anymore. "I was just about to check that. Based on the last few days, I'm anticipating another slight improvement."

"That's good." Carole looked happy, but she was distracted. That was clearly not the reason she was speaking to Elizabeth.

"Was there something else?" Elizabeth asked as the silence stretched out.

"I suppose so," Carole admitted. "Before Kurt left he said you were trying to revive Sebastian Smythe."

Elizabeth nodded. "Trying being the operative word."

"It's not going well then?" Carole was frowning, so it would seem she didn't disapprove; probably not wanting to see another family lose their child.

Had Kurt really been that important to her?

"I've been working with some of the surgeons here in the hospital," Elizabeth revealed. "We were able to fix the damage to Sebastian's torso, and get him onto life support. But the EEG s aren't very promising."

"I was afraid of that," Carole replied. "You brought back Kurt's body after a couple of days, but he didn't recover. And Sebastian was in the morgue for weeks. Not that I'm doubting your abilities, of course."

"Of course. I thought it best to at least have his heart beating," Elizabeth told her. "That way the family has a full picture when they have to decide how to proceed. And if they decide he isn't going to recover, at least they'll be here when he goes again."

"I suppose it'll be closure at least," Carole said. "I can't help hoping that Kurt and Blaine find something, though."

"Same here," Elizabeth stated. Then her eyes narrowed as she looked back at the bed. She thought... "Did you hear that?"

Carole was puzzled at first, but the second time Burt grunted and tried to shift around, she definitely heard it. "Burt!" she called out as she hurried over to his bedside.

Elizabeth reached the bed, and Burt's eyes understandably widened when he saw her. He tried to gasp out, "What-? Liz-" It came out as a whisper, as despite Elizabeth's work, Burt's muscles had atrophied quite a bit and he wasn't used to talking.

"Don't try to speak, Burt," Elizabeth told him. "It's going to be all right."

Burt's eyes closed again, and Carole yelped "Burt!"

"It's all right," Elizabeth declared. "His brain patterns haven't fallen back into coma status. Burt is going to be in and out for the next couple of days, while his body gets used to being conscious."

Carole nodded, then her eyes widened as she realized, "I have to call Kurt."

It hurt a little that Carole had thought of it first, but Elizabeth just nodded. "And I should call Dr Barstow. We'll need her to undo another death certificate."

"Wait..." Burt's weak entreaty caused both women to pause, and return to his bed.

"What is it, Burt?" Carole asked.

"Kurt... okay?"

Carole's smile widened. "He's gone through an awful lot, but yeah. He's good."

"'Nother," Burt grunted. "You're alive... so I'm alive?"

"Yes," Carole laughed. "Yes, you are."

"Can you see Liz too? Or is it just me?"

This time both women laughed. "I'll explain everything later," Elizabeth assured him.

"The short story is: she was with your dad," Carole explained.

Burt huffed in annoyance, he seemed to understand what that meant. "Want to talk to Kurt m'self."

"Of course," Elizabeth assured him. "We can call him in a bit."

"...Where...?"

"He's in New York City," Carole answered. "Actually, he's looking for your father."

* * *

><p>Kurt looked up from the address on his phone, to the address on the brownstone in front of him. Number 10, West 84 street, Upper West Side. Not that Kurt could get an address wrong, the memory recall in both avatar and vehicle modes was exceptional.<p>

Kurt strode up to the door, going through what he was going to say in his head. He rang the bell, and a young, rather thin girl answered the door. "I'm sorry, I'm just the nanny. I can't buy anything."

"Oh, I'm not selling anything," Kurt promised. "I'm looking for a Doctor Wilhelm Hummel. Older gentleman, goes by Bill. I was wondering if you'd seen him." Kurt pulled up a photo on his phone that his mother had given him.

The girl did look at it, but she shook her head. "I don't think so. Name doesn't sound familiar, anyways. Who is he?"

"An associate of the building owners," Kurt told her. Which wasn't really a lie; the company that owned the brownstone was German, and it was entirely possible they'd had dealings with Dr Hummel.

"Oh. Well maybe somebody else knows him," the girl suggested. "That company owns this whole block."

Well, that was unexpected news. Unwanted, too. "Do you know if any of the houses here are empty? Or recently filled?" Kurt persisted.

"A lot of the people here go to Florida for the winter," the girl informed him. "Sometimes it's hard to tell if someone is gone, or if they're GONE, you know."

"I understand," Kurt said. If there were a lot of empty residences it could take hours to check this place out. Not that it was this girl's fault. "You've been a big help, thank you."

"No problem," the girl said, closing the door without further comment.

Instead of immediately returning to his vehicle mode, Kurt started walking down the street. There was about a dozen brownstones just on this block, and given that both the ones across the street and the ones across the alley were the same design he'd probably have to search them all.

Kurt sighed; he didn't want to spend his whole trip on this one street.

As Kurt walked, he almost missed the little metal East German flag attached to one of the houses' mail slot.

* * *

><p>Blaine hung up his phone, and wished that Kurt was here to rub his already stiff shoulders.<p>

The list Elizabeth had given them consisted of people who Dr Hummel called on occasion for equipment and repairs. His entire team had been taken into custody after the fire, and she'd been certain that someone on this list would need to be called eventually. But so far, Blaine had gotten the same answer from everyone. Haven't seen him in months.

The worst of it was the nagging concern that if Dr Hummel HAD contacted them, he no doubt asked them to keep it a secret.

Blaine sighed again. Maybe he was going about this wrong. Was there someone else that he could pretend to be?

Blaine looked up in surprise as he heard the door open. "Kurt?"

Kurt strode into the living room and stood in front of Blaine, looking strangely pleased with himself. "That's right."

"Please tell me that smile means you have a lead."

"I think so," Kurt told him. "No one there right now, so we'll have to go back later."

Blaine jumped to his feet. "Well, depending on what security systems your grandfather has, we may not have to wait."

"Are you suggesting we break in?" Kurt asked with a smirk.

Blaine blushed. "Well, maybe not BREAK in."

Kurt took another step closer, putting him almost nose to nose with Blaine. "You're a very bad man," Kurt teased.

Blaine raised an eyebrow, though not unappreciative. "You really don't want to go out again, do you?"

"No, I think I'd rather stay here and..." Kurt's voice trailed off as he got the most delighted look on his face. "You got handcuffs when they hired you, didn't you?"

"Yes." Well this was certainly unexpected. Blaine pulled the cuffs out of his back pocket. "You want me to restrain you?"

But Kurt took the handcuffs away from Blaine, with a smirk so big it was almost mean. "I'm not the one who was planning a burglary for this afternoon."

Kurt slapped the cuffs onto Blaine's wrists. Hard. "I suppose I do need to be disciplined." Blaine winced. "Actually these are a little tight."

Kurt seemed to not hear him. "I don't have a problem with that." He stepped in behind Blaine and shoved him to the ground. "Start walking."

Blaine wasn't sure he was comfortable anymore. Scratch that, he was definitely not comfortable. His wrists were chaffing, and his knees hurt from where he fell on the floor. "Hey, if this is about not giving me an avatar until our sex life gets boring, you're REALLY jumping the gun on spicing things up."

Kurt leaned into Blaine's ear, in what was supposed to be a soothing gesture. "Don't worry, Mr Anderson." It just sent a shiver down Blaine's spine.

"This is going to be fun."

Blaine turned as much as he could; his blood running cold. He'd heard those words before.

He looked into those eyes he loved. But it wasn't the eyes he loved. He'd seen those eyes before.

This wasn't Kurt, just his original body. And inside that body?

Oh my god.

"Karr."

(to be continued)

* * *

><p>Surprise.<p> 


	18. Chapter 18

So barring any unforeseen developments *glares hard at Dr Hummel*, we should be coming up on the end of the story again. I'm thinking two more chapters, and we'll be done. Thanks again to everyone for their support and feedback, I couldn't have done this without you.

* * *

><p>Chapter Eighteen<p>

Kurt didn't think it was a good sign that the door with the East German flag on it swung open when he touched it.

"Hello? Grandfather?" No response. "It's the abomination that looks like your grandson," Kurt quipped.

There was still no answer. Kurt wondered if the man just wasn't home, had fled, or if he simply wasn't answering someone he didn't consider a person.

Kurt looked around the living room. It was tidy, but impersonal. If this was the place, it was clearly more a lab than a home.

Except...

There on one of the shelves was a picture. Kurt remembered it well, as it had disappeared some time during his mother's memorial service. Apparently, Dr Hummel had taken it along with her. It was a picture of Kurt with his parents. They looked so happy together.

This was the place. So where was his grandfather? For that matter, where was 'he'?

"You can come out now," Kurt huffed. "I'm not going away until I've searched this place from top to bottom, so there's no-"

There. Was that-?

Someone was here. Kurt couldn't normally hear someone breathing, but these breaths were loud.

Pained.

Kurt hurried up the stairs, following the noise. And he was astounded at what he found.

Dr Hummel was sitting on the floor, and Kurt could see at least one of the man's ankles appeared broken. That wasn't what had Kurt's attention, though. Dr Hummel had a gun, and it was pointed at Kurt's chest.

"You might want to aim a little higher," Kurt mused blandly. "Even if by some miracle you hit my power core, the bullet wouldn't penetrate my shielding."

Hummel started, the movement causing him to wince. "You're the avatar."

"That's right."

"How can I be sure of that?" Hummel asked, sounding amazingly like he'd be less frightened if he was certain. What was going on here?"

"Well you could shoot me in the chest," Kurt offered, though he didn't really want to have to deal with that. "Once you see me still walking around, that should be a clear indication I'm a-" Then it clicked what Hummel was frightened of. "You thought I- That this was my body."

"Yes. I knew you and Mr Anderson were in town, but I didn't think you'd find me here."

"How?" Kurt demanded. "How did you get it working again?"

Hummel grimaced. "Apparently, I didn't. There was a program in my system that was supposed to be you. It wasn't."

Kurt rolled his eyes. Of all the irresponsible nonsense. "So what now? My body has some kind of malware running it? Is it sending you ads about growing your erection?" Which was even stupider, because it would have to look somewhat like a brain pattern for it to even function in-

No.

Dear god, no.

"You didn't," Kurt growled.

Hummel lowered his eyes. Which was enough of an answer. Really, with all other exits blocked it was the only other place Karr could have ended up.

"Karr. You brought back Karr." Kurt swore and kicked the wall. "Damn it. It killed Sebastian, it killed Kitt, and you damn well brought it back for another go around."

Kurt turned his back on the old man. He had to call Blaine.

Blaine's phone went right to voice mail. That was a good sign, right? It meant Blaine was fine, and still calling the numbers he'd been given. Right? "Blaine, it's Kurt. I can't explain right now, but if you think you see me, make sure to ask me something only I'd know. It might not be me. Call me as soon as you get this message. Be careful."

Kurt turned back to his grandfather, somewhat annoyed to see that that problem hadn't miraculously vanished while he'd been on the phone. Still, Kurt did have some questions for him. "You said you knew we were here. Does Karr know that?"

"Yes," Hummel admitted. "At first he pretended to be you. So once I'd deduced that you were staying at your friends' apartment, I mentioned it to him. That's when he broke my ankles and ran out of here."

And Kurt was back on the phone to Blaine. As it was ringing, he turned back to Hummel, puzzled. "Wait, he broke your ankles? On purpose?"

"Yes, I think we already established that," Hummel grumbled.

"Why?" Kurt asked, worried. "What is Karr keeping you alive for?"

Hummel didn't get a chance to answer, as Blaine's phone picked up then. "Blaine, yes!" Kurt exclaimed. "Listen. I know this sounds insane, but Karr is in my body. Not my avatar mode, my original biological body."

There was chuckling coming from the other end. Chuckling that sounded like his own laughter. "Oh, Blaine's already figured that out."

If Kurt's heart could have stopped, it would have. "Where's Blaine?"

"You'll see him later," Karr assured him. It didn't work.

"I want to talk to Blaine," Kurt insisted. "Put him on the phone right now."

"You don't seem to know how this works," Karr stated. "I-"

"NO!" Kurt shouted. "I'll tell you how this works! You're going to put Blaine on the phone. If you don't, I'm going to assume you-" Kurt swallowed his anxiety, forcing his full fury through. "I'll assume he's dead, and I'll come hunting you.

"I'll find you," Kurt promised. "And I'll show you exactly how much a human body can hurt. Am I making myself clear, or do I have to repeat myself in binary?"

Karr laughed again, but it sounded much more tense. "You may have a mechanical body now, but you are still very human."

"I'm hanging up the phone, Karr-"

"Very well," Karr sighed.

"Blaine?" Kurt called into the pause.

"Hey baby," Blaine sighed, clearly trying to sound like he was okay. "I guess you were right about it not being safe for me to be in New York by myself." He sounded nervous, but didn't seem like he was hurt.

"We'll have to discuss a leash for you later," Kurt teased.

"No more bondage please," Blaine replied. "That's how I got in trouble here in the first place."

Kurt quirked an eyebrow, and would have been furious if he'd thought Karr had any interest in sexuality at all. "Well from now on, we'll keep the safe word only between the people who know the address of that flower shop we got the bouquets for my parents."

"Deal," Blaine chuckled nervously.

Karr came back onto the phone, Blaine vanishing with only a few grumbles in the background to show he was still there. "I think that's enough for now."

"What do you want, Karr?" Kurt asked. "You kept my grandfather alive, you're keeping Blaine alive. You must have something planned."

"I'm glad you asked," Karr told him genially. "As nice as your body is, I have to admit being a human isn't exactly what I had in mind for myself."

"You want my avatar," Kurt guessed.

"And your vehicle mode," Karr replied.

Kurt shook his head, sometimes he couldn't believe Karr's audacity. "You do understand I'd have to be incredibly stupid to agree to that," Kurt told him. It was a beginning though, and Kurt was beginning to get an idea. "I have a counter proposal for you."

"Really? And what is that?"

"You bring Blaine back here to my grandfather's place," Kurt explained. "He can put you in my vehicle mode for now, and we can bargain to exchange that for your own and a new avatar at a later date."

"And what is to guarantee your vehicle mode won't suddenly blow up the second I'm in it?" Karr asked.

"The same guarantee if I give you my avatar," Kurt reminded him.

"I suppose that's true," Karr admitted. "I'll call you again with my decision."

"Blaine-" Kurt began.

"Will remain unharmed in the interim," Karr promised. It wasn't very reassuring.

"Make sure he is," Kurt threatened. "Don't forget, if my imagination fails me, my grandfather is a geneticist, and he worked for the Soviet Union. I'm sure he knows all sorts of things we could do to you."

Kurt hit the end button, and his courage went with him. Kurt fell to his knees and burst into tears. He didn't know what he was supposed to do next. Yes, technically he was Blaine's partner. But it was Blaine who had all the experience. Kurt was still in the mindset of a sixteen year old boy. How was he supposed to battle a decades old monster?

"It- It really is you, isn't it?"

Kurt looked up to find his grandfather staring at him, as though they had never met. And shockingly enough, Dr Hummel actually looked... sympathetic. "This is just now starting to occur to you?" Kurt snapped, anguished.

Dr Hummel lowered his eyes again. "I wasn't convinced you could take everything a person was and transfer it to a machine. Apparently, I owe Dr Curtis an apology."

"I'll have the line form behind her," Kurt said.

"I-" Hummel paused, not sounding sure how to continue. Then, just before Kurt interrupted, "Tell me what you need me to do, and I'll do it."

* * *

><p>"If you want my opinion, I think you should take Kurt up on his offer."<p>

Karr turned to his captive with a mocking smile. After some thought, Karr decided it would be best if they remained in the apartment Kurt and Blaine had been borrowing. Kurt Hummel certainly wouldn't be able to call the police if he wanted his boyfriend to remain alive. And Karr had already promised Blaine Anderson that anyone he called out to here would most certainly die. So it was just easier to not have to move his prisoner. "I'm sure you do."

"I'm serious," Blaine insisted. "What are you going to do with an avatar that the police already have pictures of? You'd be better off with something a little less obvious."

"As Kurt already pointed out, nothing they give me is going to be completely free of risk."

Blaine noted that again Kurt was Kurt, while he was referred to as Mr Anderson. It might not be worth anything, but that sense of familiarity might come in handy later and Blaine filed it away in his memory. "Nothing is completely risk free," Blaine allowed. "But you can reduce those risks. April told me you used to be in the vehicle mode of a Trans Am. Maybe we can find you another one."

Karr's eyes narrowed. "Why would you want to help me? Don't you want revenge for the death of your friend?"

"Oh yeah," Blaine admitted freely. "But I want to see Kurt again. And I want to see him the way he is. If I have to compromise to get that to happen, well then I guess I'm helping you."

Karr considered this, but he did nod. "I suppose that's sensible. Be reminded though, that if you cross me I still haven't repaid you for everything you did on that island."

* * *

><p>Kurt just about jumped out of his skin when the phone rang. Dr Hummel had refused to go to the hospital during a 'crisis situation', and for lack of any better ideas Kurt had tended to the old man's ankles himself. Then there wasn't much else to do but just wait. So when his phone did ring again, the change from the near silence was startling.<p>

Presuming it to be Karr, Kurt took a second to calm himself before answering. "Hello?" he said, trying to sound as calm as possible. There were murmurs on the other side that Kurt didn't quite catch, but didn't SOUND like Karr. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Kurt... It's me."

Kurt just about dropped the phone. "Dad?"

"Yeah. How's... it going?"

Kurt saw his grandfather look up with a hopeful look on his face, and in an unexpected show of sympathy switched his phone to speaker mode. "Not really good, right now. I'm with Grandfather at the moment-"

Burt snorted weakly. "Your mom... filled me in a little. Watch your back."

Dr Hummel was so glad to hear Burt's voice, he just chuckled. So did Kurt. "Actually, things with him aren't too bad now, but-" Did he want to burden his father with this? "Everything else is a little complicated right now."

"I need my dad complicated? Or... call the police complicated?"

It was probably call the police complicated, but it was also a bizarre enough situation that Kurt knew he couldn't do it. What was he supposed to say? I kidnapped my boyfriend, and now I don't know where either of us are? "Let's just say I'm really glad to hear your voice right now. For more than the usual reasons."

"I'm sure... you'll figure it all out kid," Burt assured him. "Or... I guess not... kid."

Kurt chuckled, though he could feel his eyes welling up again. "Kid is just fine, dad."

"Gonna go now," Burt told him. "Sorry... but I need my beauty sleep. You understand."

"About time you started listening to me about that," Kurt teased. "I love you dad."

"Love you too. And dad?" Burt called out. "Love you too. But if you hurt Kurt again... I WILL kick your ass."

"I'll keep that in mind, son."

The call ended quickly enough Kurt suspected someone (probably his mother) had been overseeing the conversation at his dad's end. Kurt was saddened again, and when the phone rang again Kurt was too fast in picking it up. "Dad?"

Kurt's own dark chuckle was back. "No," Karr purred. "I've reached a decision. You haven't been calling in reinforcements, have you?"

"You already know my dad is in no shape to help anyone," Kurt replied icily. "What have you decided?"

Karr paused, but he eventually did continue. "I've decided that you and Mr Anderson are correct that I'd be better off taking something a little less conspicuous than your avatar."

"Mr Anderson agrees with me?" Kurt asked. "Good to know. So you're on your way here?"

"No, I don't think so," Karr told him. "I think it would be better if you met me somewhere else, and we brought Dr Hummel in after I've determined you aren't trying to trap me again."

Kurt's grandfather jumped into the call again, and it sounded like he was actually defending Kurt. "That sounds like a monstrously bad tactical decision for him."

"Oh it is," Karr agreed. "But the other way was a bad tactical decision for myself, and to be fair I am the one with Mr Anderson right now."

"I agree to your terms," Kurt announced.

Dr Hummel sputtered in shock, and even Karr seemed surprised by the sudden capitulation. "Really now? Is this another example of human stupidity, or human arrogance."

"I'll let you know afterwards," Kurt quipped. "Where do you want me, and when?" It occurred to Kurt that there were any number of people who might misinterpret that question.

Fortunately, Karr wasn't one of them. "As I understand, the crowds are already forming in Times Square for the New Year celebration tonight. That should give us enough cover to make certain no one can ambush us."

"What time?"

"One hour," Karr told him. "I don't trust you to wait any longer than that."

"That's probably a good idea," Kurt answered.

"I will see you then, in that case." Karr's normally serene voice darkened long enough to add, "You had better be by yourself when I see you." And then the call was over.

"This is a really bad idea," Dr Hummel warned.

Kurt thought back to his conversation with his dad, and his dad's confidence in him. And he shook his head. "No. No, I know what I have to do now. Karr's not getting away this time."

(to be continued)


	19. Chapter 19

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, the big showdown. It's not exactly what I wanted, but I do like it. Lillybean, I really appreciated your review; I just got it when I was away last weekend, and I haven't figured out yet how to reply with my new phone. Thanks again to everyone else too, for your continuing interest.

* * *

><p>Chapter Nineteen<p>

Kurt Hummel took no notice of the crowds milling around him, crowds he'd dreamt of literally since he was a child. But right now, he had no interest in gawking at New York, Times Square, or a New Years Eve of watching the ball drop. The noise was harsh and unwanted, and the reflected lights of the square only hindered his efforts to glimpse Karr.

Karr, who was in Kurt's former body.

Karr, who had taken Blaine from him.

Karr, who was damned well going to give Blaine back.

Kurt checked the time. Karr should be there any moment, if he wasn't already. Damn it, it was entirely too difficult to see through this crowd.

Kurt looked around, finally spying a railing he was pretty sure he could stand on without being jostled down. It took longer than Kurt would have preferred to slip between the hordes of people between him and the railing, but finally he was able to climb up on it and look around.

Kurt's avatar eyes were much less sensitive than the cameras built into his vehicle mode. Besides the obvious size differences, Artie hadn't cared much about making their eyes anything other than what he was used to. But the eyes were mechanical, and the part of Kurt's brain that controlled them was mechanical. So while Kurt's eyes couldn't see much better than an ordinary person's, they could NOTICE things no one else would detect.

There Karr was, just at the edge of the square. With Blaine.

Kurt looked closely at his lover. The way Blaine carried himself, the way he moved. Blaine didn't look BADLY hurt, but he moved just gingerly enough to confirm that Blaine had been beaten a little to keep him under control.

Kurt felt his blood boiling, though he knew that that was impossible.

Blaine had a coat over his apparently joined hands, no doubt hiding whatever bonds Karr had put on him. Beyond that, there seemed to be no physical force exerted over Blaine, and Kurt wondered what Karr must have said to make Blaine as quiet and docile as he was.

"Hey!"

Kurt glared down at whoever it was that had just shouted at him, his expression quickly softening when he realized it was a police officer. "Is something wrong?" Kurt asked.

The cop tapped the railing with his billy club. "I'm going to need you to get down from there."

"Oh, of course." Kurt did as asked, with a sheepish smile. "I just spotted my friends, so I won't jump back up there the second your back is turned."

The cop lips twitched in just a tiny smile. "Good to hear."

"Happy New Year," Kurt offered as he vanished into the crowd again. Headed for Karr and Blaine. Kurt doubted that Karr had given any thought to how odd it would be for the people around them that Kurt and Karr looked the same. It probably wouldn't cause any problems, but Kurt didn't want to risk the situation getting out of control due to some careless curiosity. So it was just as well that Kurt had a plan for that.

* * *

><p>Blaine saw Kurt before Karr did. He really didn't want to alert the monster that Kurt was there, but there wasn't really anything to be gained by keeping silent. Especially since Karr had spotted the change on Blaine's face. "Kurt's over there."<p>

Karr looked out into the crowd, and apparently still couldn't see Kurt. He grumbled, a reaction that Blaine thought Karr, above all, had no right to have. "I can't wait until I'm out of this inferior body," Karr muttered.

"Kurt's avatar doesn't have much better senses, from what I've been told," Blaine replied.

"Well then, the avatar I want from Dr Abrams is going to have to be a step up from theirs," Karr replied, as much a threat as a response.

Kurt came closer, and the change in his demeanour surprised Blaine a little bit. Kurt looked positively jubilant to see them. Jubilant, and a little drunk. And when he walked up, he hugged Karr, nor Blaine. "Oh my god, it's so good to see you two!"

Not surprising, Karr was totally confused. "What are you doing?" he asked, perplexed.

"We look like twins," Kurt reminded him, giving him an equally startling kiss on the cheek. "Do you want to draw attention to how much we hate each other?"

But then they were apart, and Kurt was hugging Blaine. "I missed you so much," Blaine murmured.

"It's going to be okay," Kurt assured him, guessing correctly that Karr couldn't hear them over the crowd. "Just follow my lead."

"Holy fuck, dude!" The guy was wasted, and noisy enough that Karr probably would have snapped the man's neck if he'd been strong enough. As it was, Karr looked ready to drop him. But the guy was staring at both Karr and Kurt, and Kurt suspected it was merely over the resemblance. Kurt stepped into the middle to prevent any trouble.

"Is there a problem?" Kurt asked.

"Am I having a bad trip, or are you guys exactly the same?"

Kurt laughed. "Yeah, we're twins. I'm Kurt, and this is my brother K- Carson."

Rather than introduce himself, the guy just laughed and turned back to his friends. Karr shook his head irritated. "Can we go now?"

"Lead the way," Kurt told him, genially. As they walked out of the square, Blaine was silent; watching Kurt for any sign of what was about to happen. But Kurt was silent as well, until finally asking, "So where are we going, anyways?" as calmly and uninterested as could be. His eyes were even half lidded, like he was dozing off.

"I haven't given you time to get reinforcements," Karr noted. "So I wonder why it is that you're so curious."

"As you already pointed out, I'm human." Kurt shrugged as he turned to glance at Karr, looking all the while like he was just making conversation. "I'm just curious as to where you plan on doing this transfer. You do understand that it's a little too complex an operation to be done in just any alley."

"I have no real interest in this body after the transfer is done," Karr told him. "I can't imagine it will matter very much."

"My grandfather would disagree," Kurt replied. "But you need to think about during as well as after. Of course, if you WANT to die in mid-transfer, I'm good with that."

Karr glared at Kurt. "Sometimes, I actually start to think you're too stupid to remember not to help me. And then you remind me that you're not."

"I try."

"We were at the apartment before we came here," Blaine offered. It wasn't exactly the best place to do whatever Karr and Kurt had planned, but it wasn't a street corner.

"Quiet please," Karr breezed, as though he was reprimanding a student. Karr didn't say anything else at first, but a few seconds later he led Blaine and Kurt onto a side street that seemed to be deserted. Karr raised his hand, seemingly determined to strike Blaine for his insolence.

Kurt was immediately between them. "Now, let's not ruin the evening with pointless violence, all right?"

Karr looked unimpressed, but he did lower his hand. "Then perhaps we'd better step this up."

Blaine had lifted up his arms when Karr came at him, but now he was lowering them again. As he did though, something about the movement attracted Kurt's attention and he frowned. Pulling the coat from Blaine's hands, Kurt shook his head. "Blaine, are those your own handcuffs?"

Blaine gave Kurt a bashful smile. "It seemed like a good idea when I still thought he was you."

Kurt reached for the cuffs, but this time it was Karr blocking the way. "I think that can wait until later."

"I'm still not clear on when that will be."

"Soon," Karr assured him. "We are almost there."

Kurt nodded, letting his eyes briefly close again. "You do realize we're heading away from my grandfather's lab. I can't imagine he'll be able to get where we're going all that fast. Given that you broke both his ankles."

"One thing at a time, Kurt," Karr stated.

Kurt stepped to the side of the road as headlights ahead heralded a coming car. "Actually, I think that we've gone as far as we're going to."

Karr stopped walking, pulling Blaine off the street with him. "Given that I still have your lover under my control, I don't think you're in any position to make demands like that."

"Blaine darling, could you show me your cuffs again?" Kurt raised his own arms, miming the action he wanted Blaine to take. Blaine did as asked, holding his arms out so that the handcuffs were fully exposed.

"Now why did you do that?" Karr asked. The words sounded exasperated, but it was obvious Karr wasn't too bothered. "Those nice people driving this way are going to have to die now."

"Kurt," Blaine gasped. He went to put his arms down, but stopped moving when he caught the hint of a head shake from Kurt.

"It's okay, Blaine."

"No, it really isn't, 'Blaine'," Karr sneered. "Your lover has somehow managed to forget how ruthless I am."

"I haven't forgotten anything," Kurt insisted. "You, on the other hand, have forgotten something very important. Even when I'm 'by myself?"

"I'm never alone."

Two things happened simultaneously. The car driving up stopped in front of them, and a spark shot out from the grill. It arced in front of Blaine, bringing spots to his eyes but also melting the chain between the two hand cuffs.

Karr was furious, pulling his gun and heading to whoever it was in the car that had just undone him. Blaine was right at his heels. Karr got to the window first, and pointed his gun into the open window.

It was empty.

Blaine had just enough time to recognize Kurt's vehicle mode before he turned on Karr and punched the villain in the face. "You'd think it would hurt me to hit Kurt's face like that." He did it again. "It turns out it doesn't."

Karr moved to aim the gun at Blaine, but Kurt wrenched it out of Karr's hand before that could happen. "It's over, Karr."

"Is it?" Karr sniffed, unconcerned. "What do you plan on doing with me, Kurt Hummel? One of the few advantages I have now, is that I can't simply be terminated because you don't like me."

"You killed Sebastian!" Blaine snapped.

"Not in this form," Karr pointed out. "I don't think that if you told the police this sad little story, they'd be very interested in pursuing charges."

"I think I'll leave those details to the Knight Industries legal team," Kurt answered.

"Ah, of course," Karr sneered. "You're going to let someone else solve your problem for you. I've seen humans doing that before."

Blaine rolled his eyes; Karr didn't know nearly enough about humans to manipulate them psychologically. "It's not going to work, Karr."

"You know what will work?" Kurt asked him. "The trunk."

"Isn't there an emergency lock inside the trunk?" Blaine asked.

"It has a computer lock out," Kurt said, with a smug grin. "Just like the seat belts."

The mention of the seat belts made a shiver of blood lust go through Blaine, and he was seriously tempted to buckle Karr in (even though he knew full well Kurt couldn't, and wouldn't, do what Karr had done to Sebastian).

Karr was finally starting to look pale and worried. "I think perhaps it's time I left."

"It's past time," Kurt told him. "But you aren't getting away this time."

"We'll see."

When Karr had first captured Blaine, Blaine had of course tried to escape. Karr had actually made a lucky shot to Blaine's knee that kept Blaine from turning the tables. Karr had remembered that, and it was the first spot he went at now.

Blaine went down, and when Karr ran Kurt stayed with Blaine rather than following. "Damn it, that hurt," Blaine muttered.

"Oh Blaine," Kurt gasped as he knelt beside his lover.

Blaine shook his head though, putting a significant hand on the gun Kurt was still carrying. "I'm okay. Don't let him get away this time."

Kurt was clearly torn, and Blaine tried to stamp down the pain in his leg and look determined instead.

Kurt nodded, leaning in to give Blaine a quick kiss. "I'll be right back."

"Be careful."

* * *

><p>Karr couldn't believe this had happened. Again. Only this time the fault was all his. He was the one who had made Dr Hummel an enemy. He was the one who had gone after Knight Industries again, when he should have counted himself lucky Hummel had been stupid enough to download him into Kurt Hummel's body.<p>

Karr shook his head as he felt himself welling up. Damn it, this human body wasn't what he wanted at all.

Kurt Hummel was right behind him. The avatar was showing no sign of slowing down, while Karr's biological body was starting to feel winded.

Damn it. Damn Kurt Hummel.

He had to get away, but then what? How was he supposed to go on with this inferior body? He wasn't human. He knew almost nothing about humans.

He certainly didn't know enough to wait for the lights before jolting across an intersection.

Karr turned his head as he heard the familiar sound of brakes squealing in protest. There was a car barrelling down on him, going far too fast to stop in time.

It was a Pontiac Grand Am. Black. The way he and Kitt had been.

Karr couldn't help but chuckle.

But then the car slammed into him, and the pain was too great to care about anything else.

* * *

><p>(to be concluded)<p>

And don't worry, Cloverific. I haven't killed Karr just yet.


	20. Chapter 20

Gosh, I feel so sad knowing this is over. I want to thank everyone who subscribed to story alert, story favourite, and left such nice reviews. I've been going through some rough times IRL while I've been writing this, and it's been such a joy knowing that so many people have enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. You're all wonderful.

* * *

><p>Chapter Twenty<p>

Kurt had been leaning against the wall outside Sebastian Smythe's room for about an hour before Blaine exited. Blaine was crying silently, tears tumbling down his face, and hurried to bury his face in Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt held him for a while before finally deciding to ask. "Is Sebastian...?" When they'd returned home from New York, Dr Hummel had examined Sebastian's body thoroughly for the possibility that he might be revived with the same techniques that had saved Kurt's parents. But unfortunately, Kurt's grandfather determined that it had been too long. That while Sebastian's body might recover, it would end up empty the way that Kurt's body had been.

The Smythe family was given the choice of keeping the body breathing in the hope that other advancements might prove successful. But after giving them time to consider their options, it was decided that it was time to let Sebastian go. Blaine shook his head against Kurt's chest. "I said my goodbyes. I thought... I figured this should be a time for his family."

"I'm so sorry, Blaine."

Blaine looked up and gave his lover a weak smile. "We did everything we could. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Well, it sounds better than I really pity you," Kurt pointed out.

Blaine laughed until he started bawling again. He cried for several minutes before he finally managed to get out, "I really love you, you know that."

"I know. I love you too." Kurt shook his head, saddened not only for Blaine, but for Sebastian himself. "It doesn't seem fair that I've gotten my whole family back, even my grandfather who I don't really want. And Sebastian doesn't get that chance."

Blaine shrugged, his grief starting to come under control. "How long were you just electrons in the Knight Industries computer system? I don't know that your life has been any more fair."

"He's right, you know." Blaine and Kurt both jumped, turning to see Burt being wheeled up by Carole, and attended by Kurt's mom. "I wish I could have been there sooner for you, kid."

Kurt grinned, leaning in to give his dad the first hug they'd had in years. "Hey dad. What are you doing up?"

"I heard you were back, and I wanted to see you," Burt explained. "You and this new guy of yours."

Blaine offered his hand. "Blaine Anderson. It's nice to meet you Mr Hummel."

Burt gave Blaine a firm, but not overwhelming handshake. "I think you'll do," Burt declared.

"He will," Carole assured them. "He's the head of KI security. I think the board knows more about him than he does." Which was about as good a reference as you could get.

"I can think of a couple of things that I know that I'll bet you don't," Kurt quipped.

"I don't think we need to hear what they are," Burt chuckled.

"Agreed." Elizabeth walked around Burt's wheelchair. "Your grandfather should be about finished examining Karr by now. We should head over there." Karr had survived his accident, though he'd been in and out of consciousness since then. He'd had severe head injuries, which had resulted in emergency surgery to relieve the pressure and remove damaged tissue, and internal bleeding which had resulted in another trip to the O.R. Dr Hummel had transferred him here when Hummel, Kurt, and Blaine returned from New York, and was now his primary physician under the auspices of Knight Industries.

As far as Kurt was concerned, the best part of Karr's grocery list of injuries was the facial injuries that pretty much guaranteed whatever happened to him, Karr wouldn't be looking like Kurt anymore.

Kurt turned sympathetically to Blaine. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"I do want to," Blaine insisted, wrapping an arm around Kurt that comforted Blaine far more than Kurt.

Karr was being held on the same floor as Sebastian was housed (and Burt Hummel, as well), so it didn't take long to get to his room. The police weren't getting involved in this whole mess, as Karr had guessed, so it was KI employees that waved them inside. Blaine gave them a small smile of thanks as he went in.

It was odd to see Dr Hummel so open and happy to see them, especially Kurt. He looked up from his patient when he heard them enter, and waved them over. "Come in. Karr is sleeping for right now, so we should be able to talk."

"What's his prognosis?" Elizabeth asked.

"Physically, I think he'll make a full recovery," Hummel told her. "Some reconstructive surgery of course, but I've dealt with far worse. Ironically enough, from what I can tell he has retroactive autobiographical amnesia."

It took Kurt a few moments to determine that meant Karr had lost his memory of who he was. Blaine got to it a little quicker. "So how much of Karr is left?" he asked with a frown.

"Not a bit," Hummel answered. "And it seems to be permanent; the memories would have been located in a part of his brain that had to be removed during surgery."

"Does it make me a bad person, that I'd still rather put a pillow over his face, just to be sure?" Carole muttered.

"No," Elizabeth assured dryly.

"Now that my previous patients are fully recovered, it might be interesting to see what I can make of him," Dr Hummel noted. So some things hadn't changed. The man was still looking at this as a challenge.

"I don't have a problem with that," Kurt stated. "I just have one request."

"And what is that?"

Kurt frowned, he hated being a dick about this but it was something he needed to do. "I want you to take him, and I want the both of you to go very far away. I have some feelings of my own to deal with, and I can't do that if you're under foot."

Kurt's grandfather seemed briefly distressed by this, but he nodded in agreement. "Perhaps then, it's time I went back to Germany. I have a lab in Neustrelitz I can bring him to; the countryside there is starkly beautiful. Assuming Knight Industries has cleared up my legal difficulties."

Carole nodded at that. "It was a close vote, but the board decided not to press charges for abetting the theft of Kurt's avatar."

"Thank you," Hummel told her.

"Don't thank me," Carole told him coolly. "I voted in favour of the charges."

Hummel's eyes widened, just a little bit. "Well, give your colleagues my thanks."

"Of course."

Everyone was silent after that. There wasn't really anything else to say.

* * *

><p>Blaine dropped his suitcase as he entered his and Kurt's place, amazed that so much had happened since the last time they were there. "I think I could sleep for a week after all that."<p>

Kurt picked up Blaine's bag, and Blaine blushed a little at the reminder of just how much stronger Kurt was. "Well, we've certainly earned it."

Blaine followed Kurt into the bedroom, and kissed Kurt the moment their bags were once again on the floor. "I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I just wanted to say again how glad I am that I've got you in my life."

"I feel exactly the same way." Kurt tried to smile at Blaine, but a dark shadow marred his eyes. "Do you think Karr is really gone this time?"

Blaine shrugged. He'd been outside his experience for some time now. "I don't know anything about souls-"

"Assuming Karr even has one," Kurt pointed out.

"Kitt did," Blaine assured him. "Why not Karr?"

Kurt nodded at that. "I suppose that's possible."

"Maybe now, he'll have a chance to do some good in this world," Blaine suggested. "To make up for everything bad he ever did."

"He'll need to live a very LONG time to do that," Kurt replied.

"You're probably right," Blaine agreed. He flopped down on the bed, but his eyes didn't seem to want to close. "You know, it's funny. I was just saying I needed sleep, but I'm not really tired."

Kurt crawled onto the bed beside him, a twinkle in his eyes. "Neither am I."

Blaine playfully tossed a pillow at him. "You're never tired."

Kurt tossed it back. "I'm sharing your mood. Stop trying to ruin it."

They kissed again, but Blaine pulled back. "Let's go for a drive."

Despite ending what could have been a very satisfying make-out session, Kurt just smiles at him. "I'd love that. You're not too tired of my vehicle mode after the drive to New York and back?"

"I could NEVER be tired of your vehicle mode," Blaine insisted.

Oddly enough, it seemed as though KURT was tired of it though. When they got outside Kurt popped the trunk and tucked his avatar inside. At Blaine's baffled look, Kurt smiled. "I find I'm a less distracted driver if I don't have my avatar in the car when I'm driving."

Blaine laughed, reaching out a hand to pull Kurt back to his feet. "Then I'll drive," he determined. "I want to take a ride with my boyfriend, not just my car.

And well, how was Kurt supposed to reject an offer like that.

(The End)


	21. Epilogue

This was all done, and then I remembered the little loose thread of Blaine dreaming about his wedding to Kurt. And since I'd already been asked for more, I decided I needed to write this. It was originally more fluffy, but the angst showed up again mid-story. It turns out all right, though.

I'm going back and forth on whether or not I'm watching the show when it returns in September. But don't worry. No matter what happens, I'm certain I can keep writing either way.

* * *

><p>K.U.R.T. and Me - By BigDestiny<p>

Epilogue

Kurt Hummel stared into the mirror, poking at his hair like he hoped it would turn into something else. Rachel Berry entered the tent from behind him, Finn at her side, and chuckled as she watched Kurt's fussing. "Your hair looks amazing. It always looks amazing."

"If it's always amazing, then it's only average today, isn't it?" Kurt pointed out, anxiously. "Today has to be perfect."

"Kurt, you're marrying Blaine today," Finn stated soothingly. "Trust me; it might be a little freaky right now, but in a couple of hours all you're going to be thinking about is how happy you are." Which was a little hard to ignore, given that Finn had been through all of this himself.

Kurt shook his head, bemused at himself. "I'm a robot, and I can't control my emotions."

Finn was about to object, but Rachel shook her head, silencing him. Not something they had to do today. "Just think how Blaine's doing," she reminded Kurt.

"Have you seen him yet?" Kurt asked. They were doing the silly traditional thing, not seeing each other the day of the wedding until the ceremony started.

"He's not here yet," Finn said.

Finn didn't sound concerned, but Kurt was immediately alarmed. "He told me half an hour ago that he was heading out. He should be here by now."

Kurt expected this attitude from Finn. But annoyingly, Rachel didn't seem worried either. "Kurt, there's plenty of time. He probably just hit traffic."

"I know that's supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn't." Kurt had stayed at Rachel and Finn's place the night before, and they'd brought him here. Which was helpful right now, because Blaine had Kurt's vehicle mode. And was going to be driving it.

And it took Kurt very little effort at all to figure out where said vehicle mode was at that particular moment.

The odd thing was WHERE his vehicle mode was. "Blaine is at the Knight Industries Tower."

Finn's face crinkled in confusion. "Isn't it kind of a weird time for work?"

Rachel however, remained serene. "I'm sure he's just clearing everything up before you go on your honeymoon."

That seemed logical. On the other hand, Kurt was Blaine's partner at work as well as in real life. And it made him feel a little guilty to imagine Blaine taking care of things alone. "Maybe I should go help him out."

Rachel's mouth dropped, scandalized. "Kurt, it's your wedding day. You can't just leave."

"If I don't give Blaine a hand at work, we might end up short a groom anyway," Kurt pointed out. "Besides, maybe the ride will do my hair some good."

* * *

><p>The KI Tower was atypically quiet, the reason of course being that many of the employees were already waiting at the wedding for Kurt and Blaine to arrive. While Finn drove Kurt there, Kurt had used his link to the building to determine that Blaine was in the lab with Artie. There was no one at the front desk, and Kurt had his own key to the lab, so he left Finn in the lobby and proceeded to the second floor.<p>

It was quiet, and dark when Kurt arrived at the lab, which was just peculiar enough that Kurt was silent as he walked in. He didn't see Blaine or Artie when he first entered, but there was a lab table flooded with light nearby.

There seemed to be an avatar on top of the table. Was Blaine helping Artie with some maintenance?

Then Kurt got closer.

And if the bottom of Kurt's stomach could drop out it would have.

Because the avatar on the table was Blaine's.

Kurt ran to the avatar, and shook it. "Blaine! Blaine, wake up!"

Kurt needed to hear Blaine's voice, but at the same time he was terrified that the avatar would wake up.

Because then Blaine really was dead.

"Kurt? What are you doing there?" Kurt jumped, startled. He turned around to see Blaine behind him. Walking up with Artie, who was the one who'd called out to Kurt.

Kurt had never been happier to see Blaine in his life. So why was he pounding on Blaine's chest? "You scared me to death. Or you would have, if I could die from something like that."

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Blaine was legitimately baffled. "Artie was finishing up on my wedding present to you. Don't you like it?" Blaine turned to Artie, annoyed. "I told you the skin colour was off."

"The skin colour is perfect," Artie insisted. "You forget, we're the ones that look at you every day."

Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing. This avatar was a gift? For him? "You're dying is your wedding gift to me? Is this because of the whole 'until death do us part' thing?"

Blaine smiled, lopsidedly. Still blindly not getting why Kurt was shocked. "Well, it wasn't for TODAY."

"Ready to go, though," Artie noted.

Kurt stared at Blaine, aghast. "I don't believe in couples hitting each other. Even if they're evenly matched, it's still spousal abuse."

So Kurt slapped Artie instead. "OW!" Artie yelped.

"Are you insane?" Kurt growled at him. "Did you learn NOTHING from the day we all thought you were dead?"

Blaine had to nearly pull his fiance off of Artie. "Baby, it's okay. The only reason we did it now was in case I start getting saggy and grey before we do the changeover. That way I get to look exactly the way I did on our wedding day."

That was sweet, and pretty romantic. But Kurt wasn't ready to let it go just yet. "Don't say that. Don't use the word 'changeover', like this is just a new look. When you do this, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE."

Blaine's smile got gentle, and he pulled Kurt into a tight hug. "I know. Kurt, I understand. And I'm not rushing things."

"I'm not ready for that," Kurt admitted quietly. "Artie can spin this all he wants, but when it happens your body is going to be left over. And it's going to be dead."

Blaine shuddered a little at that, finally seeming to get it. "I'm sorry. This was a stupid surprise, and I should have known better than to think you'd be happy about it."

"I am happy," Kurt allowed. "I just-"

"You don't want to rush things," Blaine finished.

Kurt nodded.

"Well, then," Artie stated. "If we're done here, let's get the two of you hitched."

* * *

><p>The wedding took place in a little park that Blaine first brought Kurt when Kurt just had his vehicle mode. They'd organized it so that the guests faced the parking lot, which seemed a little odd until you realized that Blaine had wanted Kurt's vehicle mode there when they got married. Because in Blaine's opinion, he was marrying all of Kurt that day, not just his avatar.<p>

Although the plan had been for Kurt and Blaine to walk up to the front together, Kurt had purposely gotten ready early so that he could stand there while Blaine changed. Finn, who was Kurt's best man stood beside him, eventually asking in puzzlement, "So why are we up here so early?"

Kurt smirked at him. "For purely tactical reasons. I don't want anyone tying tin cans to the back of my vehicle mode. It's tacky, even when it isn't my alternate body."

Finn looked a little guilty for a second, but nodded enthusiastically.

By the time Blaine and his best man Artie joined Kurt and Finn, Brittany was standing up at the front with them. Brittany was, in fact, a licenced minister and for reasons that didn't really make sense even at the time (Blaine was convinced it was just morbid curiosity), they'd accepted her generous offer to officiate their wedding.

"We're here today to join Kurt and Blaine together as husband and wife," Brittany informed everyone, looking rather puzzled. "I forgot who was going to be the wife, and I was hoping one of them would be wearing a dress and that would remind me."

"We'll just be husband and husband then," Blaine suggested.

"That's a great idea," Brittany replied, brightening. "We're going to skip over the praying, because it's boring and no one can save a marriage with praying. Except maybe Neil Patrick Harris. We'll be having vows instead.

Blaine looked into Kurt's bright eyes, relieved that his silly gift hadn't ruined the day for them. He'd never admit this to anyone but Kurt, but he'd had these vows ready since he'd first dreamt of marrying Kurt three years earlier. "Kurt, ever since you came into my life, I feel like I've finally started to live it. I love you so much, and there's no one else in the entire world that I want to keep living my life with. I promise to love and cherish you, and to do everything I can to get you to forgive me every time I'm completely oblivious to the consequences of my actions." Kurt chuckled at that. Blaine continued, "I'm not going to promise to be with you till death parts us, because even that's not going to stop me from loving you. I take you to be my husband, now and forever."

Kurt wiped his eyes, with only a little irritation in them. Kurt had gotten the gist of Blaine's vows earlier and had complained heartily that he was never going to be able to top that. "Blaine. My darling, my best friend. I didn't have a life before I met you. Literally. I'm so grateful that I've gotten to have this second chance with you. I couldn't imagine a better future than the one I'm about to share with you. I love you more than you will ever know, but I promise to work until the end of time making sure that you understand at least a fraction of how much that is. I promise to be there for you, with support and understanding, and to not let death part us."

Brittany grinned at them. "There's some other stuff in there but by the power vested in me, by the state of New York, I now pronounce you to be married. Now let's get to the hot guys kissing."

Everyone laughed, even the parents. Kurt and Blaine smiled sweetly at each other and kissed.

* * *

><p>After the wedding Kurt, oddly enough, asked Blaine if they could go back to the KI Tower. They went up to the lab and once again found themselves looking down on Blaine's avatar. "I think Artie's right," Kurt noted. "That is your skin colour."<p>

Blaine kissed Kurt again. "Well, I wouldn't take Artie's word for it, but I think I can trust my husband." Blaine took another look at his doppelganger. "The only thing that scares me is something happening to me so fast that we won't have time to use this thing."

"That worries me too," Kurt admitted. I just don't know how to help that."

"My ...programming. Does it have to be stored as a single entity in the system?" Blaine asked, curious.

"I don't think so," Kurt replied. "But I don't think it'll work if the pieces are separated."

"But that's good," Blaine said. "I don't want to be trapped inside Artie's computer system. But if they're still viable, or whatever, why don't we start recording now. That way we have a fallback in case anything goes wrong."

Kurt considered that. "I suppose that's possible." He nodded and smiled. "I like that. That way I don't ever have to say goodbye to you."

"Me neither. I love you, Mr Anderson-Hummel," Blaine told him.

"And I love you Mr Anderson-Hummel," Kurt answered. "Forever and always."

The End (again).


End file.
